The Mario Experiment
by Gus Calvo-Simmons
Summary: The Mushroom World became devastated after a successful attempt into conquering the entire world; Princess Peach as one of the last survivors is trying to find a solution to reclaim the land back from the Koopa King.
1. Chapter 1: The Maze

**Chapter One**

 **The 8 Level Maze**

There was another moment where he woke up. He couldn't have remembered anything on how he got there. He checked around him, and found a little piece of information. His name was Mario; he couldn't remember having any last name or if he had any family at all. He was barely tall, had some belly, he noticed he was wearing blue overalls with a red shirt; on the top of his head there was a cap with the first letter of his name.

The world he found himself was an open field, it looked as a battle happened there. He knew that the answers were at the end of the road; but he was in blank about what answers he was looking for. As he started to walk, he found that some blocks defied gravity, they were there hoovering on the midair.

He realized he could jump quite high, at least five feet in the air. From the platform he had a better view of the world. He realized he was in a valley, he tried to see if there were other signs of life but to his surprise there were only some wild fauna and flora. In a moment of impulse, he saw that there was one more block above him, the block was flashing and had an interrogation mark. When he punched on the block, a small yellow mushroom appeared but started to move fast on the opposite direction.

Mario quickly ran against the mushroom and when he touched it, he felt a new strength flew through his body. He grew up a few inches, being almost 5'9 after the change. He jumped back down and started to walk down the only path that was on his way. A series of walking mushrooms named Goombas started to run to him; he felt a necessity to defend himself. He aimed quickly and jumped over there smashing them in the process.

Blood and gutters where everywhere; he panicked for a moment and he realized the creatures where almost harmless if he let them walk around him. The scenario was surreal as he kept walking, there were pipes sprouting from the grounds; he realized at that moment that probably he could be the last survivor of a massacre.

The pipes and the ground were part of a city; he was an in a city. "Mushroom Kingdom is in ruins" He suddenly remembered, he remembered the attack on the Kingdom, he remembered Princess Peach getting abducted and Bowser massive scale attack that almost killed everyone and the few who survived were transformed into stones and monsters.

He realized he killed two Toads who had no free will, that they were brainwashed and he didn't even cared; he was more concerned to save the princess. The memories were coming back; the last days of the Kingdom, the Peach throwing him on a secret chamber on the bottom of his house; he realized he woke up on the Mushroom Way and he wasn't far away from the Mushroom Kingdom Castle.

Mario started to run as if there was no tomorrow, he became worried. He found that one sewer tube that was opened and he could travel a little bit from the bottom. He thought maybe some of the citizens ran down below for survival, he was wrong, at least on the Mushroom Way he couldn't found anyone.

As soon he got out on the other side, he tried to avoid some Goombas and some Koopas who were patrolling the area. He realized if there was some Koopa Troops around there must be some information about them. He tried to go closer but as closer he got, he got detected and as he got detected he got attacked.

There was a small showdown between him and the Troops; he got killed.

\- Another one who bites the dust. Shit! Peach screamed at the monitor, while watching clone dying on action.

\- Princess, you know the memories of the clones aren't perfect, they tend to linger on what the original Mario was. Almost on a genetic level.

\- I know Toad, but there has to be a way to bring that essence back. The people of Mushroom Kingdom need their hero and it was a shame he got killed almost 10 years ago as the first causality of the Koopa War.

The laboratory was cold and dirty. There were three levels in which Peach and Toad were the only ones inside at the top. The lower level was surrounded with some tables that sheltered some solutions, as well on the corner there was an operation table with a corpse that was almost impossible to identify but it looked human.

The second floor contained some stasis chambers, all of them filled with Mario and Luigi clones. All of them on different stages, Peach always felt guilty that the plumbers died on her name, she couldn't do even nothing. Every time she passed on the second floor she wondered what would have happened if things turned different, if Bowser didn't conquest the entire Kingdom? She didn't have any answers.

The last floor of the laboratory chamber offered the entrance and exit; it had some monitors to control the vital signs and development of the clones, as well the software that implanted some memories she did retrieved from the _prime ones_. A small secured safe like door was located on the left side of the last room, that door was the focal point of the hard-hologram chamber; the same chamber the Research Institute created before their obliteration in order to train soldiers.

Albeit after many decades the emphasis of the chamber became to "wake up" the _hero nature_ of the clones and their abilities to manipulate fire and pure energy. Both heroes were unique on their own way; even if they were brothers by blood they were quite different in terms of personality and pure power.

Peach felt that Luigi had more potential than Mario, she was sitting there looking at the tanks, feeling sad; she was thinking if Luigi had reached his full potential the outcome of everything could had been different. He was the ability to tap in the realm of the Boo's, deal with the counter-natural realm as well have access to the elemental energy that made the multiverse work, but he was a coward who relied too much on Mario.

Mario on the other hand could only access fire elementals and create fantastical forms of attack, he had the attitude to compensate his lack of power, he was a natural leader. Peach was feeling melancholic about the outcomes but she wanted to have a change and regain some of the Kingdom back. Her two concerns were if the clones succeed she was going to set them up in order to kill the real King of the Koopas, but also how she was going to lie to them, that they were the originals in case one of the memories of their assassinations resurfaced.


	2. Chapter 2: Life Beyond the War

**Chapter Two**

 **World 1-2: The Life Beyond the War**

Peach was feeling extremely frustrated, she realized another set of clones were ready to continue with her own experiments. Her own paranormal skills were still quite active, and she used several times over the years the _Come Back_ incantation to give life to the clones. She was bothered that when the Koopa Army destroyed the town she couldn't resuscitated the people of the kingdom but also neither of the plumbers.

She theorized eventually that if the body wasn't damaged enough she could bring them back, but if the body was destroyed over 60% then she couldn't bring anyone back. Eventually she thought about the cloning program the Science Ministry began 10 years' prior the war, where she saw a ray of hope. The experiment of bringing back the heroes took time, the first clones died within a year; the second generation survived but it had a price, the clones became hybrids.

The original _Plumbers_ were born in another world, a world where cities reached to the skies and by a mere accident they ended up in the Kingdom of the Toads. The only way for Peach to return the body was by creating hybrids, let the clones had an element of the genetics of the people of the Mushroom World, and it worked.

Slowly, the second generation survived. They became the first ones to survive beyond their first year, Peach used her _Come Back_ in order to give them life and threw them on the virtual maze. As every time a new set of the clones was ready, she placed them together on the virtual room. The virtual chamber contained two different rooms; those two rooms could be interconnected if necessary but Peach opted much of the time to keep them separate to make it difficult and bring the essence of the heroes.

\- Toad, initiate the World 1-1 protocol for Mario and Luigi.

\- Yeah!

\- Time is running out; Toad, if the clones don't wake up with the abilities their primes had, we will be death within two years.

\- Princess, we are safe on the lower chamber of the laboratory; I highly doubt Bowser knows we are here; as far he knows we are dead after he attacked the castle; he didn't found out bodies and he seemed to be happy with killing Mario and Luigi.

Peach kept some silence, she was recited an incantation and two beams of light that came from the extra dimension known as Star Road. Every time Peached bring a clone to life she wished for the memories of them to be fully awaken. She could only wish.

\- Please Geno, hear my cry. She sent it through her wish. While the chamber created the hologram of the Mushroom Kingdom.

It was a bright morning, and Mario woke up; he screamed "Princess! I must rescue the Princess!" He realized he was on the Mushroom's Way. He started to run as fast as he could to jump on the end of the road, he remembered Bowser kidnapping the Peach and she screaming to rescue her in order to restore the peace of the Kingdom.

From the other side Peach was smiling, she couldn't believe it, but again she implanted the fake memories to boost the clone's actions into bringing their genetic potential. She was worried that Luigi's clone wasn't reacting at all to any stimuli. She decided to manipulate the clone environment and recreate it the sewer system. The stage she called world 1-2.

Peach hated that stage of the simulation because she had to hid on the sewers for over a year after the massacre. There she learned more about the struggles of her people but as well she met people from other kingdoms. It was a sad panorama for everyone; the death and desolation were in the face of everyone and she was desperate to find a solution for that problem.

World 1-2 was a simple but yet complex labyrinth of bricks and steel, it was a small nightmare where death could be scented on every corner and she took the liberty to fill it with Goombas but in the maximum difficulty she filled it with Buzzy Beatles in order to make the level impossible.

\- Toad, reach the difficulty to 10 please. I want World 1-2 to be a nightmare for the _Green Lighting._ He needs to wake up in his cloned body.

\- Ma'am you know the clones haven't survived the tenth level of difficulty.

\- I know but we need to give it a go, it is now or never if we don't push them to the limit.

Toad didn't hesitate and placed the Luigi's simulation on the maximum level. World 1-2 became a frightening _game_ , it was almost impossible to not to walk without stepping on a tramp and getting attacked by enemies. The entire scenario was jammed with Spiny and Buzzy Beatles, making the enemies essentially impossible to kill. She left two small power ups on the level for Luigi to find, one was a fire flower as an instant power up and the second was a warp zone where either Luigi or Mario could teleport to level 2, 3 or 4.

She left several short cuts around the simulation, not impossible to find but perfectly hidden. If Luigi could awake his potential, then she could have half of the heroes of the Kingdom back and reclaim what the people lost, but the idea seemed to be impossible as the clones were dying under extremely easy obstacles.

In his dreams, Luigi was being chased by King Boo; he wasn't even awake yet, he was laying there on the ground. He didn't realize the dreams were memories, memories when his abilities were on the peak. Those were another times, where his access to the negative energy he could be a focal point between the World and the same essence that bestowed certain beings with extra ordinary abilities.

In essence Luigi was powerful but he never knew what to do with his skills. He then woke up; he could barely remember who he was; it was probably the 39th time he was awoken from the slumber of the beyond but he was barely only a few months old but reached the maturity of the age he died, his 36th birthday.

\- Mario! He screamed. He got no answer. Mario, where you?

No answer; he realized he was alone on that dungeon. He started to felt frustrated and scared. Then he saw he was surrounded by different Beatles, he started to panic and as he panicked he started to feel an _electric current_ through his body. He started to move around, on his own axis; a burst of lighting appeared around him and expanded around the level. Every single beetle was incinerated and burned to the ground.

When he woke up from the trance, he saw the path of destruction left by his power. He panicked, he started to breath heavily, he was confused. From the control room Peach and Toad were ecstatic, it was the first time in over a decade that one of the clones showed some progress. He instinctively tapped into the _negative force_ and let it explode.


	3. Chapter 3: Spontaneous Combustion

**Chapter Three**

 **World 1-3: Spontaneous Combustion**

Mario reached the penultimate level of the first world of the maze. It was an open space, almost surreal; he reached the top of a mountain out of nowhere. "Vista Hill" it was a name that came to his thoughts. His memories of Vista Hill, where completely different, he remembers vaguely seeing Bowser's Keep on the horizon. He wondered what happened? What destroyed the world? What created those abnormally large tree tops?

He was confused as he didn't understand what happened but he felt the impulse to keep walking; and keep searching for someone among the road. He stood against the ledge, there were long gaps between the mushroom heads. There were some Sky Koopas flying, they were different, they looked dead, as if they were blocking the way.

The bottom of the pit was impossible to see, as if a piece of land was completely missing. He closed his eyes, breathed deeply and took one giant leap. He jumped to the first tree, he realized the tops were flat and sturdy. He found it strange, and then he tried to jump to the second one, there he found a Koopa by himself, he was looking to the horizon.

As soon the Koopa saw him, he tried to run towards him and push him down but Mario just jumped in a back flip and dodged the attack, leaving the Koopa to fall to his death. He didn't felt too much guilt but on the other side of the control room Toad was wondering if they did program the hard holograms too well? As if they were becoming sentient with each reset and they were learning. He didn't remember that specific hologram looking at the sky before, 10 years ago he was just a regular walking back and forth Troop protecting the terrain.

Mario didn't hear the enemy reaching the bottom so he assumed there could be water or something cushion the impact. He tried to jump again and reached the second top, he was wondering where was Bowser's Keep? He was confused because he could remember something but it wasn't clear. He sat down for a moment and tried to think.

Remembering was an issue; the only person he could remember was Luigi and Peach, Toad was barely a name. He felt that a lot of his memories were missing and that he could be the last person on the world but yet knowing that the minions where around, he knew Bowser had an answer. There was some sadness that his mind was completely fractured into tiny pieces but he couldn't bring the reminiscences of his past back to him.

Peach was looking at him from one of the screens; she was wondering if the implanted memories would surface one day? If he was going to recognize her? She grew older with time, she was in her mid-fifties while Mario was 38th, the exact same age as he died. The cloning process could accelerate the biology process by ventilating the oxygen levels on the molecules; but the clones would die in-vitro if they passed the 36th and 38th biology mark.

The clones were fragile as she learned with the first generation but the memory implantation on the clones became more complex as she found out by stimulating the neural cortex among with audiovisual information she could implant basic knowledge; on the process she found out that within the hybridization of mixing genes of Toad population, the clones started to exhibit some memories that were linked to the experiences that was attached with the original DNA.

 _Genetic memories_ as she named them, when she discovered them she became obsessed as she found those memories where linked to the _hero skills and potential_ that are innate of each being. Her dilemma came, after realizing that she could improve the learning experiences, she implanted every single death on every new clone, she wanted to be sure that at least on subconscious level the clones would learn from their mistakes; it wasn't a success all the time but as the fourth generation approached she saw that the memories where coming back; but it wasn't until the two recent awoken set that she saw for the first time the hidden potential coming to the light.

Mario was feeling rested and he decided to continue moving. He noticed the vegetation was quite thick, so he wondered how much time passed before he regained his conscious? Probably around 10 years, but at the same time he felt that it was only yesterday. There was a certain point on the level where there were two trees, on small one almost 10 feet below the level of the others. On that tree there was a _surprise block._

He took a leap of faith, and jumped down. When he reached the block and push it, a small Fire Flower popped from the inside. There was something calling him, he touched the flower and he felt as he was burning. Suddenly he was engulfed into a fire pillar; he was glowing and after a few seconds everything stopped.

Mario tried to walk, he was feeling dizzy, and he didn't notice that he was close to the ledge; he started to fall. Peach looked in anger and fear, she couldn't believe that the clone didn't survived the fire flower, knowing that the original template achieved pyro kinesis without any external help. To her surprise, the clone didn't die, Mario propelled himself back to the ledge with the same fire he started.

He jumped to the highest tree back leaving a trail of fire behind. Then he fell unconscious on the tree he landed. Peach felt tempted to go inside the simulation but she rather let it go and watch what would happen. A few seconds later he woke up as If nothing happened; she felt that it could be a reaction by mere instinct, but she was curious to see if the clone reached the last section of the first level.

She let Toad control the simulation for a moment as she had to sit down far away; that exact moment of Mario reacting to the flower of fire reminded her the last moment she spent with the Mario _Prime._ It was the third year of the war, by that moment the Alliance of the Dark Mushroom attacked the Kingdom.

The castle was in ruins, it was 10:10AM and much of the inhabitants and servants were dead lying everywhere. She was crying and Mario was trying to reach for a safe place on the sewers; there were bombs exploding everywhere; the magi-koopas were enslaving the last survivors. Peach was quite distressed, she didn't know what to do, at that moment she realized everything was lost.

Geno was one of the casualties, Mallow closed all borders on Nimbus Land and it became distanced from anything happening below the clouds. She was wondering what did it went wrong? She realized it became a problem into letting him gain power when he joined the group when Smithy became a menace to the Kingdom.

In a way, this situation was her fault, if on a very beginning she didn't let him join he wouldn't had gained the skills to use them against the world. It was her fault; it was her fault that at a last moment almost 30 years ago, Bowser reached the Castle summit after the last two were the last survivors. He was aiming at first to the princess, but at a last moment Mario pushed her from the Crusher attack. He got impaled by a perfectly made stalactite, he couldn't escape; the princess was looking paralyzed in fear and after that she just ran away, leaving Mario alone.

He died by blood lost and internal hemorrhage; he lived long enough to see his only love escaping; he wished for a moment that he would protect him or stay with him, but Peach was fully in fear. His death was lonely and full of sorrow. Peach never forgave herself into the catastrophe she caused; after they invasion forces left, she went back to the castle.

There she saw the body of his guardian, perfectly impaled through the stomach. She tried to pull it out and resurrect him, but it was impossible. The damage was to extensive on the organs and the neural system, there was hypoxia on a cellular level. She started to cry as there was no tomorrow, then Toad appeared unharmed out of nowhere and ask her to leave the body there and take refuge with him.

He assured to her that they will pick up the bodies later and try to resurrect them. She was in panic because she knew that war and the death of Mario and Luigi was her fault.


	4. Chapter 4: Fire and Ruin

**Chapter Four**

 **World 1-4: The Castle of Fire and Ruins**

Memories where deep in his mind, as he approached the control point where the fake King Bowser was residing. Mario could feel the heat coming from everywhere; he could hear the dragon roar at the very end. He started to walk slowly, as he felt he was being observed. His sensation was partially truth, as he had two spectators' from the outside of the chamber but he was feeling more of the enemy at the very end of the road.

A small flashback occurred in him, he visualized a time that wasn't here. There was a vision within the lava pit; there was him holding a small puppet from a girl and the puppet turning alive. It was a small miracle, the puppet turned into a living being, a very powerful being who cut evil with a shiny light.

\- He looks so familiar but I can't remember him; he was powerful. Was.

On the control room Peach was paying attention to his face expressions, she was wondering what he was thinking? Where was everyone maybe? Did he notice that it was just a mere simulation? She was curious to see the reaction; but overall she knew the flames would wake up his most inner instincts.

The castle was grey and it looked old; it contained only one straight hallway, with some hills and mountains, but the biggest surprise was the lava that was surrounding the ground level and how some parts of the hallway collapsed to the lava.

Up in the sky, there was a memory holding some life. Twink was one of the last Star Kids who survived the war, became the guardian of the wishes of the Kingdom but also he became extremely paranoid about the physical access other beings had to the Star Heaven. He remembered how their biggest hero got devoured by Bowser Jr. Only the shell of the doll was left behind but the ghost vanished without a trace.

It was a moment where Bowser Jr, used a strange substance that could cover his entire body, he was acting erratic but he was alone, he was the one who destroyed the outside walls of the Kingdom and started to attack everyone inside. People were running in terror because they weren't expecting the outer wall to be destroyed so easily.

A small fight occurred, the entire north east wall was destroyed; Geno as soon saw it he didn't thought the little Koopa was being serious. He pulled out a big brush that was oozing a black liquid and he laughed. – Rise and rotten! He screamed with a high pitch voice and the liquid started to cover him; became almost as a liquid version of himself.

In less than a second he threw a bunch of Bomb-Ombs in all direction, it was a kamikaze attack that started the first strike of the massacre of the palace. Geno was throw against the Inn of the town, which created a hole in the wall, before Geno could react Bowser Jr, speeded up against him and hold him against his neck.

\- You know I do not breath?

\- I know, but I do not want you to escape.

\- I just need to hold you while I suck you out of that body.

\- You little piece of shit. Who send you?

\- My daddy.

Geno closed his eyes, and whisper _Geno Beam_. The Inn got destroyed within a series of beams that came from the sky. In the blink of an eye Bowser Jr. dodged the attack and let Geno hurt himself with the debris of the hotel. His shell was quite damaged but he didn't care, he was angry, he wanted to kill Bowser Jr.

\- How do you dare?! He screamed, and run against him.

Bowser Jr. didn't say anything, he pulled out some tentacles around him and aimed against Geno. The blobby tentacles stopped him and crushed inside where he kept his core, in the middle of the chest. He pulled his true essence, and with a quick movement he devoured him. There was no pain, no nothing, no screams. Twink just ran out in fear, he couldn't believe his hero died without the ability to defend himself.

He felt guilty over the years, he couldn't believe he couldn't do nothing. There was a strike against Star Heaven, and he just hide on the sewers; much of his siblings got murdered without any hesitation, a lot of the wishes died and the source of magic got diminished.

As time passed Mario realized the castle was just a false positive; it wasn't the real deal, he knew the answer was at the end of the road and he decided to run, to run as fast as he could. Avoiding every single of the obstacles until he saw the fire balls being thrown by the Koopa King. He started to burst again in flames, as if the fire was controlling him. He wasn't thinking, he was just reacting to the situation.

The Bowser hologram reacted in a very basic way, he was moving as a salamander among the walls and spitting fire. When the hologram spotted Mario, it stopped and looked at him as he was about to jump over him and crush him. Mario simply dodge it with a slide.

A whirling of fire was surrounding him and he went running towards him, he jumped as a projectile and hit him on the stomach with all his power. Fire spread around the fake Bowser, leaving only a Goomba that vanished into ashes.

He walked pass the ashes and found a small Toad waiting for him. The Toad was just a mere copy of the one that Princess Peach companion, it was only based as a younger version.

\- Sorry Mario, but our Princess is in another Castle. Mario didn't understand the reason why he was saying that, and how did he knew his name? His memories were still fuzzy, he wanted to ask him so many questions but the only one he had was.

\- Who I am? Who I am looking for? Who is the Princess? Why I can't remember anything but you seem to be OK?

There was silence from the control room. Neither Peach and Toad knew what to do, neither of the other clones expressed self-awareness on that level. They decided to lie, they wanted to keep the last experiment with along because their answers to find an end to the invasion where just 7 _worlds away_.


	5. Chapter 5: Slowly Sinking into an Abyss

**Chapter Five**

 **World 2-2: Slowly Sinking into an Endless Abyss**

Luigi realized he finished with the castle and it was only a Bowser's decoy; he was wondering what was besides the guardian? He realized there was a small Toad waiting for him; a strange Toad just sitting there, smiling.

\- Sorry Luigi, but our princess is in another castle.

\- Who is our princess?

\- Sorry Luigi, but our princess is in another castle. The little thing repeated again the same words. He found it strange that there were no emotions in between the Toad words. He was repeating the same thing over and over.

Where to go? He was wondering what was behind the gate. He was wondering why the Toad was repeating the same thing over and over? He screamed for his brother's name with no answer. Peach was wondering when he was going to desist? Mario won't be able to hear them as the holographic chamber was divided into different rooms they could adapt and manipulate for personalized experiences.

The holographic chamber was a piece of art, as big as 20 floors, it had retractable walls that could isolate the participants or test subjects. The holograms were almost as perfect and the A.I. adapted to learn new skills and interactions; the chamber could recreate people and the world the user of the interface desired. It could create life and anything with the proper parameters.

The idea came to fruition by Peach's aunt who was the headmistress of the Science Branch of the Mushroom Kingdom, she saw a way to train soldiers in a perfectly safe environment as well to give the family some entertaining under some unrealistic scenarios. Eventually the chamber was fully developed for the Mushroom Military and was also used by other kingdoms in order to achieve tactical understanding of some other worlds terrains.

Whenever she was feeling alone, Peach interacted with a hologram simulation of her family, she created a small world of her own where she could pretend to be with her parents and friends, to be with her nana. She was feeling incredible lonely because she lost them a long time ago, and she couldn't retrieve any genetic material from any of her closest one.

Luigi walked pass through the doors of the guardian, only to find the next stage of the maze. Two green pipes where he walked down to the one in front of him. He started to sink through a vortex and ended up in the bottom of the what he thought could be a water canal. There was water everywhere, he was trying to breath and then he saw one small duct of coral popping bubbles, he went there trying to grab for some oxygen but to his surprise one of the bubbles stuck to his face giving him the chance to breath underwater.

The underwater channel was covered with a lot of algae as well there weren't much fauna, only some Bloopers around. He thought he could escape quickly but what he didn't realized there were some underwater vortex on some parts of the level that could kill him on the spot if he was absorbed.

Mallow wasn't far away, he managed to go down to the world of land and go to Tadpole Pond by himself. He missed so badly his grandfather, who was among the thousands who died within the War. He missed some of his team mates, he missed Master Jynx, too many people died within the Dark Mushroom Attack.

As he was feeling sad, rain started to pour on the area, it was a sad rain, much of the flora started to whiter. He tried to calm down but the memories where still haunting him. A Kamikaze Koopa Squad killed him, Frogfucius died without even being able to defend himself against the multiple angle attack.

They destroyed his body to pieces, leaving him to float down the river and end in Melody Bay. Mallow almost died, when Kammy Koopa ambushed him. He tried to defend himself but it was incredible difficult, he tried to crush her with Star Rain but she with a finger snap destroyed his spell and tried to dehydrate him from the water that composed his body.

Mallow quickly retreated to Nimbus Land where he found that the attack of Bowser was global scale. Much of his people were murdered, his land was destroyed. His parents survived the attack, but his pride was destroyed; before the enemies could escape he out of anger let a shower of black starts to spur out of his body and went as little projectiles to every single enemy that was in the land.

Every single was killed by him within one blow, Wendy Koopa was one of the dead, she was also the one leading the attack to Nimbus Land. He became a killer, he never imagined killing out of rage, he never imagined to kill and have the blood lust; he never imagined he had the dark powers of the skies within him.

For a long time, Mallow saw himself as a force of creation, but he realized he could create destruction. He saw himself as a catalyst between the land and the heavens; and that was the moment he created a barrier isolating his people from any contact from the underworld and what was beyond the skies. Of course, he could still travel between worlds, he didn't want that nobody could access or leave until the war ended.

Luigi was feeling claustrophobic, he felt time was running low and he wasn't able to find the exist of the underwater passage he was going to die. Sad thing, clone #31 died under similar circumstances; he drowned and later his body as well the other rejected were used to feed the new clones. Then he felt some peace and suddenly his mind cleared from any doubts. He just walked down on the floor of the canal, he didn't even swim, he overpassed the Bloopers. He realized there was something wrong with the world, the creatures who were used to be hostile where ignoring him; the Toad couldn't say other words. There was something wrong where he was.

He remembered, he started to remember. His memories when he drowned on the shores of Sea Side Town where coming back, he couldn't explain why he hates water so much and then he realized it. It wasn't the first time he drowns; it wasn't the first time he died; he couldn't understand that he was a mere clone, one of many; one who had survived too long, opposite to the other 39 ones. He wanted to use his lighting but he thought he could get electrocuted because he was surrounded by the conduit; so he waited until he was out.


	6. Chapter 6: Lighting and Water

**Chapter Six**

 **When the Lighting Hits the Water; Memories of a Shadow**

Luigi came out from the canal; and he saw himself on a point he couldn't recognize. There was a bridge; it was long; it didn't look safe. He heard some water coming from the bottom; he walked a few steps to the ledge and realized the canal was on the bottom of the surface; at least he could saw some of the underwater passage.

He took one step to the stairs and realized that the bridge was quite weak in structure. Suddenly out of nowhere a massive school of Cheep-Cheep started to jump out of the water. He then noticed that the Cheeps were the last of the problems, there were Koopas hiding around the bases of the bridges. It was a problematic route for him to traverse, but he felt it wasn't impossible.

He started to dodge the fishes who were trying to hit him as projectiles, he almost fell on the water; he knew he would be devoured. It was impossible to focus because he was thinking, where he was? It wasn't the Kingdom he remembered, it was another place, time couldn't had passed that long in which Bowser had enough time to turn the Kingdom into ruins.

Again that vision of him drowning in Sea Side Town came to his head; it was a moment time stopped. He started to remember his own death. He was angry, he was sad; he couldn't believe after a long time he remembered something.

The war was on the point of no return, the invasion of the Dark Mushroom. Luigi ran over Seaside Town, it was madness. By that moment, he realized that Bowser's Alliance arrived first; his nightmare was far from over, he realized that the Dark Mushroom resuscitated the Axem Rangers; that Bowser never got rid of that technology to produce soldiers. All of them where sitting on the middle of the town, with the slayed bodied of much of the people.

It was a sad scenario; he hid for a few moments in one of the bushes and was thinking was to do; he couldn't think of something as he was alone; he was sent to file a report; but he felt he had to do something. He wanted to see if there was hope.

He started to look at the houses; Seaside grew in size since the last time he visited; the houses surrounding the well were essentially the same; the tall and vaulted ceiling created a beautiful picturesque scenario and in the middle the well was surrounded with some benches. It was a tiny, cute little town with merchants and sailors. That was just a mirage; he wanted to go and explore the houses to see for any survivors.

He moved slowly, he noticed that the Axem's were sitting around the well without noticing anything; they looked tired and he knew it was the moment to go inside and check for survivors. Even the monsters who didn't side with their former master were killed, such as the Sniffit who owned the Beetles store. His body got eviscerated, he thought about giving a burial to all the citizens, when the Rangers left town.

The moment of planning an escape turned a little bit impossible, the entire town was surrounded by other minions, as well Ludwig who arrived out of nowhere to check on the operations. From all the Koopa siblings, Ludwig was the worse; he was smart and sadistic and he was incredibly powerful on his own right. He was even more powerful than Bowser Jr, up to the point the heir of the Koopa Empire feared Ludwig.

Luigi knew he didn't have a way to escape. He saw a way to send a message to Mario and the Princess; he was going to create a firework with his fire skills; he knew his location was going to be announced, it was going to be a light as bright as the two suns; but he knew they will see it and know that there was trouble in Seaside.

Luigi went to the roof and send several flares. Ludwig saw him at the spot among with the Axem Rangers. He smiled to the last "firework" and charged the Negative Zone, his ultimate ability. He engulfed the entire town within his aura. The moves of every single being trapped in the negative zone became slow; Luigi seemed to dance as he moved and attacked, his body was covered in a strange flare that was burning everything he touched.

The Pink Axem was the first to be burned to the ashes; she was the closest in distance. The Green was the second to be destroyed; he was torn into pieces; there was blood everywhere. Luigi then realized the Axems weren't mechanical constructs but living beings; he realized he killed two living beings and he started to feel guilty.

Guilt became his worst mistake, because he realized that Ludwig escaped the zone. He was outside not far away from the well; Ludwig was smiling from ear to ear, he started to move fast and faster; then he jumped inside the zone without being affected; he pulled out his wand and transformed it in to a small fire road.

As soon he made contact with Luigi, the fire turned into a tornado of flames, Luigi was engulfed by the fire and was sent straight to the bay. The negative zone collapsed into a thousand pieces; Yellow, Black and Red were out of the skill; and systematically teleported into Luigi's as he landed on the water.

There, they hit Luigi with a lesser version of the Breakers Beam; he was pushed to the bottom of the bay. He tried to move, he tried to swim back to the surface but his body was paralyzed; he felt how he lungs collapsed as he was dying on the bottom of the ocean.

He remembered; he remembered everything; he activated the Negatize Zone on the stage he was. Every Cheep was frozen in midair, he started to walk slowly towards the end. He was angry, he was really angry because he couldn't believe he died in such a pathetic way, but overall he was angry that he died alone.

He stopped in the middle, where the bridge broke and another one started. There he burned everything to ashes out of anger. He wanted to know where he was. Peach was in horror, she even thought about terminating the simulation for Luigi because she felt he could go berserk and kill her and Toad; but at the same she wanted to see what would happen. She was curious because she never saw that personality on the real Luigi.

She never remembered Luigi being so assertive, but he was never motivated by anger; she saw that Luigi was having an adverse reaction to the memories lose but also she remembered he was a clone; not the real, a hybrid created to bring back the heroes, to bring back some memories, to be at peace with herself for allowing them to be killed; for not being for her people knowing she had the potential to create and to destroy.

She was happy to see Luigi's back but also she was wondering for the first time if the neural implementation of all the times they died, would create a negative effect on a long term? She was scared, because she didn't think the possibility of crafting a trauma. In a moment that it was a mere coincidence, Luigi saw straight to one of the cameras, he didn't know she was the brain behind the resurrection experiment.

He walked down to the next gate, as he went in, the illusion of the world vanished and the next one appeared. He was again on another castle, wondering where the real princess could?


	7. Chapter 7: Let the Flames Consume You

**Chapter Seven**

 **World 2-4: Let the Flames Consume the Body and the Soul**

Mario reached to another castle; more memories where coming, he was feeling agitated, there was a pain on his chest as if something went through him; he couldn't remember how he got murdered or that he wasn't even the original but just a mere clone with the memories of the original one. He was feeling tired as if body was about to collapse due fatigue. He couldn't remember the last time he ate something, or even he went to the bathroom.

He started to look the surroundings again, but no matter how far he ran, there was no exit, he could walk around the world and it wouldn't matter; there was no other survivors, Luigi's name came again to his head. He was wondering why he couldn't remember his face; his own brother. His memories were still being a fraction.

He was sitting on the castle; looking at the fire again. Trying to know what was happening; why he ended in a bizarre world with no information, nobody, only Koopas around, only monsters and no people. "Where was everyone?" He thought, "Where the road will end?" "What answers I would get?"

Life wasn't as difficult as it became for everyone, a long time ago life was amazing. He explored worlds, he stopped Bowser and other invaders several times, he was powerful enough to travel through time and space; he became helpless, he became sad, he became depressed when he saw he couldn't stop the Dark Mushroom.

He was sitting alone in entrance of the dungeon; he was listening to the beast roaring on the background. He was watching a series of three platforms, two on the same level for him to jump a lava pit, and the third above the same two. There was a block defying gravity, as well the roars of the dragon king on the bottom.

He closed his eyes and tried to think what to do; what to remember, why the world collapsed? He couldn't recall anything with specific details. He remembered the face of the princess covered in shadows and blood as she ran away; the pain in chest came back again, as he remembered the pain chest grew stronger.

Peach was suspecting that the clones were recovering the memories that they were implanted, as time passed she was growing uneasy because she knew the clones could realize it was her fault all the consequences of the war, that she cloned them multiple times and let them die multiple times, that Mario died because of her and that she sent Luigi into a suicide mission.

She was monitoring them closing, even thinking about killing them if they broke the holographic illusion, but at the same time she was hoping for them to finish with the maze and go with her and the last survivors to reclaim the Kingdom. It was a suicide mission what she had in my mind, but she was obsessed with the idea of killing every single of the conquerors.

She then requested to Toad to leave some food for both Mario and Luigi at the end of their respect levels. She imagined the clones could be hungry and the food supply she had been quite bountiful; she hoped that both heroes would survive.

Mario started to walk again on the castle, he was starting to remember his brother. He remembered the last time they shared together.

It was only a few hours after the invasion started; Luigi was quite nervous because he didn't want to go alone, they were watching the Dark Mushroom airships. They were long, they were incredible powerful, they contained enough arsenal to whip over the world, in each of them were the Koopalings. The airships were the first wave out of five; the last one being the Beanbean Kingdom; all of them were precise and lethal; all of them systematically annihilated everything on their sight. Peach was asking Luigi to go on Seaside Town as they saw some form of missile reaching and impacting the town.

Mario remembered how sad his brother looked, he gave him a go before they left. That was going to be their worst mistake Peach could think; separating the two most powerful warriors on her army but she was confident to have Geno and Mallow on her side.

He realized his brother could be death, that he could be the last survivor of a post-apocalyptic war; but he couldn't remember those last moments where he finished inside one of the Mushroom Kingdom fortress's. That was the point he was in limbo, how did he get there? What happened to Peach?

His adventure was far away of being a unidirectional one where rescues everyone and everything went back to normal until the next one. It wasn't as simple, there was a war outside the walls; the princess from another dimension he swore to protect in exchange of his abilities being awaken betrayed him and the rest of the Kingdom. He thought that at the end of the road he will save everyone, he was wrong.

Toad was looking that the vitals of the Mario clone were rising at a fast rate; he was wondering if the Mario was remembering? If the trauma was appearing? He realized his suspicions were right after so many failed attempts the clones were remembering, he wanted to trigger an emergency protocol that would kill the clones as soon they reached the respective castles they were in.

Luigi was on _world 3-4_ by that moment, being 4 steps ahead of Mario in the simulation; both were exploring the castles within the different simulations they were facing. The protocol was simple, whenever any of the clones defeated the "Bowser Imposters" they fake Bowser would expel a toxin and kill them.

It wasn't the first time he did something similar under Peach nose; he killed several clones in order to spend more time with Peach as he ever wanted. She wasn't even suspicious about his servant sabotaging the resurrection of the heroes; but Toad as time passed was growing erratically. He thought if the clones succeed the test he wasn't going to able to spend time with Peach.

Mario started to walk slowly again to the edge; the lava bubbles started to jump back and forth. He closed his eyes, and absorbed the lava bubbles that were blocking the path. Toad was watching that there was really some unusual behavior in which the clones were using the environment to generate power.

He thought that the simulation was as real as it could be, the lava could disintegrate a body in matter of minutes, a fall could kill anyone (even if it was only a 15 story fall and not bigger as the clones were thinking) The upgrades he made to the holographic chamber were straight of the imagination of an artist; he improved the software speech interaction up to the point the AI learned to store the information of different characters and make them evolve as if they were real.

There were no enemies besides the traps inside the castle and the guardian at the end of the level. Mario passed the fire spins easily; after that he found there were two elevators, one going up and the other down; both met at a certain point in the middle.

He jumped them easily; and saw that another Bowser was at the end of the road; he had a small glimpse to identify the fake ones, they sported a raccoon tail out of their butts. The thing was watching him from the distance and he jumped inside the room. He walked through the gates, they closed; it was another battle he would have to conquer.

The scenario of the room was quite different from the first one he went; there were bodies hanging from the ceiling; there were some round circle of blocks that was defying gravity. There were two platforms who were flying around the room; he could feel the lava flowing in the bottom, in the middle of the room there was a lever. He tried to run as quickly as he could, but the Bowser threw him a hammer and knock him over against the wall.

Toad believed that was it for that Mario, but after a few moments the plumber woke up. Without Peach noticing he increased the difficulty on Mario's level; he understood that none of the clones before reached past level 5 and he wasn't happy with the outcome the new set where having within the levels.

Faux Bowser immediately after the difficulty was increased his movements became unpredictable, he wasn't only jumping back and forth, he was around crawling around every single wall and throwing hammers and fireballs to Mario who was having a hard time dodging them at such impossible speed. He was wondering what happened to the faux Bowser? At that moment he didn't even realized about the simulation as Toad was in control and he was with a mission while Peach was sleeping; to kill the clones.

Mario tried to go again the lever, he knew that was the key to defeating the guardian; but the guardian wasn't going let him that easily to touch the lever. Albeit there was a catch, the guardian wasn't going to be defeated by touching the plank as under lower difficulties the function of the pedal was to make the floor subdue and let the guardian sink on the lava.

The higher difficulty levels were more complex; they took everything to the extremes up to the point it was impossible to defeat level 1-1 without someone being killed. Toad was preparing to communicate with Mario through his avatar, the Toad at the end of the road; the only thing he was waiting it was to Mario was to defeat the 2nd Fake one.

A while ago, Mario died, he got impaled by Bowser's Terraform attack. He saw Peach and Toad running away; he was screaming for help, he knew while he was still alive Peach could help him; there was something he didn't realized, Toad wasn't helping Peach to safety he was trying let Mario die within the attack. The impaling wasn't lethal, it only damaged minor organs but made him stuck, the setting of him spitting blood probably scared Peach and blocked her judgment.

As he was screaming for help, he realized he was going to die because of blood lost before internal injuries. Mario was terrified of the idea of dying, he never imagined about dying and letting Bowser win. The war was over, the war with his demise; everyone else was death or they escaped; as he died he only had one wish "to be able to help his people, to re-do his mistakes".

His wish was granted, as subsequently he under Peach desire he and Luigi got resuscitated, but the process was long and problematic, as with every clone new memories emerged; death lurked everywhere, memories of every single death were placed into their minds. Both died a total of 42 times within a lapse of almost 15 years. Then he remembered, every single of his dead's; he remembered the last moment he saw Peach.

"The Princess is not in another castle; the princess is outside this illusion" His body started to burst in flames; Toad activated the emergency protocol which was going to release a powerful poison that would kill Mario as soon he finished with the False one. The toxin would appear from all the corners of the room and would drown him.

Mario jumped in rage against the False Bowser, he was covered in flames and punch him in the stomach; the abomination fell on the floor, the thing was furious and as part of the emergency protocol had a replica of the real Bowser's final attack **Giga Transformation.**

As Mario hoovered down to the floor, he activated the lever letting the floor to collapse and the False one to fall in the lava pit. 15 years before, the moment he died, he saw Bowser transforming into his Giga self, it was monstrous, Mario closed his eyes and he died, he died in pain but the memory of the shadow followed him beyond.

As the False one screaming in agony, he realized that it wasn't over yet, he was transforming into a giant version, the same version he saw before dying. The simulation was even worse, it turned the False into a giant skeleton of Bowser. Mario started to feel fear because he was facing with a nightmare from the past; but in a small moment of courage he started to burst his flames again, he jumped over and screamed "Reduce everything to ashes, Ultra Flames". He achieved his Final Smash which pulverized the False one and activated the emergency protocol.

A cloud of poison started to cover room, Toad was extremely happy as he was watching the monitors "I did it" said to himself with his raspy childish voice. The toxins didn't even touched Mario, the dissipated within his contact. Mario was angry and he walked straight to the Toad's avatar.

\- I am not going to punch you because I know you aren't real, where I am Toad? Don't tell me the Princess is in another castle.

\- You are right, the Princess is save with me. We are on the undergrounds of the Castle. Said through the control room but speaking straight through his avatar.

\- What happened?

\- You don't remember or you stupid? You died.

\- I know, I want to know why you didn't help me?

\- My priority was the princess, as always been.

\- I am not talking about that; I am talking why you aid the Dark Mushroom Alliance?

\- I do not know what are you talking about.

\- You are the one playing stupid you little mushroom; you led Bowser inside the castle walls, you gave the intel that convinced Peach to let Luigi go alone to Seaside Town, even if you know he didn't have a stand against the many minions who killed the entire town. Toad who are you? What are your intentions?

He got no replies, Toad had left the control and his avatar turned back to his previous self. Mario started to worry about Peach, he knew the answers would be as soon as he could escape the maze he was in and he had a desire to burn out Toad outside from the plane of existence.


	8. Chapter 8: I'll Reach to You My Brother

**Chapter Eight**

 **World 3-1: I will Reach to You My Brother, When the Night Falls**

After the last gate, there was a world of shadows. It was beautiful, it was melancholic, the sky seemed to be eternal. Mario was wondering what kind of magic was that? What created such a beautiful but yet dangerous world? He couldn't have understood that it was a construction from a machine, it wasn't magic.

The face of his brother suddenly came to his head, he remembered the long face with the sad mustache; the face of his younger brother. He saw it, he saw his brother, his younger brother running to Seaside Town, he didn't want him to go but he couldn't contradict Peach's orders. Luigi said goodbye within the first wave; he became the first five to die.

"Fuck you all" Thought Mario, "Peach you were the worst leader of all, you let us die". He kept walking slowly. He was thinking how much Luigi must had suffered getting killed by the Koopalings; he was angry and he promised himself if he survived the trials of the world he was he was going to move the cosmos just to be safe with the only person who was his family.

The level he was mesmerizing, he forgot how beautiful the stars were; how the sky could be perfect. He saw two Paratroopas approaching fast and he ran towards them, jumping and igniting a fire, pulverizing them.

Peach was looking at the screen; she was amazed as she missed the last level as she felled sleep; the Toad species didn't have that necessity to sleep albeit they ate on occasions. She asked him about what happened inside the 2-4 castle to Mario, he didn't say that raised the difficulty but that he awoke some of his latent powers.

She was static but he was angry, because the emergency protocol didn't work and he couldn't kill any of the clones. Peach went to get some food from the vault and left Toad alone, the vault was almost on the exit of the laboratory; as she walked, she realized she had been underground for a long time. Going out on several occasion to talk with members of the resistance on the ruins of Booster Tower.

As time passed Peach became bitter, angry with life; she started to hate everything and herself. She became recluse and barely spoke to anyone except Toad. She always tried to remembered what it went wrong; so many things. The day of the fall of the empire, the dead of many people, her love, her relatives, how the galaxy collapsed; she started to cry, she couldn't believe 15 years passed.

She lost too much weight; she could barely perform the Peach Bomber or her Psych Bomb; she could had stopped the invasion among Mario inside the Kingdom walls, but she was paralyzed after Giga Bowser's entrance. One question that crossed around her head what happened to Culex? He showed he could travel around her dimension without inconveniences after receiving an upgraded version of the Mog's Amulet.

Luigi was already on world 5-1, he realized he wasn't in the Kingdom he remembered. There were several fortresses' around, the animals were out of controls, the minions replaced everyone. He was wondering exactly where he was. The place seemed to be so surreal, but yet his memories where scattered. He could remember the day he died, how he followed Peach orders, and how Ludwig and the Axe Rangers gave the fatal blow and how he drowned.

He started to wonder if he was on purgatory or someplace else; that he had to reach a certain point to ascend to heavens? He was having a metaphysical crisis about everything, he was wondering if his brother made it out alive, if he was somewhere along the road of limbo.

The idea of being trapped somewhere in between could be realistic under that simulation, there was no night and day, the enemies seemed to fade out, the scenario was always constant; day and night lasted forever. The computer had so many flaws that could be detected under simple observation, such as the wind and sky. Luigi started to wonder if he didn't die or just got trapped into a twisted torture experiment?

In fact, the trials to awake the clones were a twisted experiment made by desperation and sadness in order to bring the Kingdom back to its former glory. Peach wanted redemption, she wanted to be loved again, she was on a faded glory and she knew as soon she was discovered she was going to get killed by the enemy forces.

Mario was sitting on the corner of the first edge, he was watching down on the bottom, he knew suicide wasn't an option, he was there silently watching three wild Goombas looking at him. He snapped his finger three times, burning them. He realized his powers didn't need the use of an external aid, but the ability to control fire was within him. He was a force of destruction, but he felt his powers weren't complete, as if someone else who wasn't his sibling had a portion of them.

Fire for him over the years became an obsession, he saw life coming out of the ashes but as time passed he was convinced that he was there to destroy and purify the world. He started to see Bowser in his head as an opposite power but both being the opposite sides of a same coin; both were necessary for the balance of the cosmos.

There were moments where that balance was broken, that was one of the moments in which the balance was broken. There was an existential crisis over his head; he thought that dead wasn't the last stop but a new beginning, a continue or an extra life, an opportunity to be reborn and re-do it over again.

The same essence of his new existence was re-do it, regain memories, to gain a continue where he wouldn't. He realized the ultimate truth, he wasn't the first one but he was the last; he looked at the sky and wondered how long it was until the end of the road? Maybe that was life, just one long road where dead was the last reward, there was no princess and no rewards.

He was thinking about how to escape; he was trying to grab a sign that there was an exit, but he felt there was no place to hide or escape unless he finished. A moment of sadness he continued to walk on the level, the see what was at the end of the road. On a similar path Luigi was doing the same as Mario, he was walking to the end of the level hoping to have an answer and see his brother soon.


	9. Chapter 9: Peach Inside Story

**Chapter Nine**

 **Peach Inside Story – Preamble to the War**

Mario reached the end of his level; from the other side of the screen Toad and Peach were watching him. They noticed he remembered, they were worried but overall both of them were fearful about their own selves and willing to use the other ones as human shields. Peach knew a part of this war was her fault, she failed to stop the Koopa experiments within cloning and she regretted she didn't have the time to go and kill them all within fear of a withdrawal and repercussion from any of her allies.

Toad on the other hand knew that he betrayed Peach in exchange of information and wealth; he double crossed everyone but at the price he lost his freedom. Time was making him to slowly sink into madness, he was thinking seriously betray Peach one more time and give her to Bowser so she would get executed by the Koopa King.

He knew that war started because he wanted to be king of his people but he had a twisted fantasy into making her his sex slave, he had a deep infatuation with her, he saw her as perfection. She saw him just as a mere servant, a retainer who was the most powerful within her court. She was wondering what her family would do? She missed her father deeply as he was killed within the second wave of the invasion.

She never saw him or her mother again, they died while they were hiding in Monstro Town. The entire town of monsters were executed by Roy Koopa alone. He planted explosives across the town that was located in the border of a cliff; and the survivors where execution at a point blank with a Bill Blaster. Their corpses where barely recognizable when a rescue mission team went to search for them.

She wondered if Bowser attack, if his invasion among with the Beanbean Kingdom was an act of a broken heart? She started to overthink, she knew she went there to invade the kingdom and annex it as a province of the Mushroom Kingdom, she failed with her plans when she found an excuse to invade after a very poor rouse created by an old hag named Cackletta.

While Cackletta was powerful, Peach saw her as the perfect foil to go an annex the country that was beyond the sea; she just pretended her voice was lost and send Mario and Luigi with a reason that was empty. Queen Bean and Lady Lima became angry towards the Mushroom Kingdom and swore to take revenge for that coup, and creating false positives.

She knew her thirst for expansion one day would came back and haunt her, every single of her actions as a regent ruler became a problem, every action she took as a human being became the cause of all the problems. One aspect was how the public saw her, other she knew she wasn't perfect.

She even ignored that Toad was double crossing her in exchange of power and wealth, but she was more focused on her own life than anything else.

Toad was experienced mixed emotions and feelings, for a long time he loved Peach but he was feeling bad that he couldn't even say to her "I love you". He started to machinate a world of fantasies in which he dominated her but in her regular life he kept his façade. He had twisted fantasies in which he raped the princess, so many times he planned and almost execution them but at the end it was an offer from Bowser who changed his mind, he wanted power.

There were passions inside the castle wall, there was a war within, Toad wanted Mario and Luigi outside the panorama, he wanted everyone else outside and have the world to his feet; he knew the weaknesses of Peach and everyone else, he was just the faithful confidant.

He was there when Geno got devoured, he wasn't that far when he saw Luigi dying, he enjoyed watching devastation and how his lust grew within each murder. He was angry for never being taken in consideration, for being just in a second place even if he was capable of handling different issues within the science department as well international relations. He was just there as butler, a confident and nothing more, nothing more.

Peach was having an existential crisis, it wasn't the moment; she thought about finalizing the experiment and surrender to Bowser, but she realized it was too late to give up since there was too much to lose.

She sat on the controllers and went to check on the code source of the software; she found that the negative worlds were still active it made her wonder why they weren't never deleted from the program itself. She was thinking about diving into the simulation on the third room and navigate through the glitch, the idea of committing suicide inside a limbo of endless enemies could be a good way to finish her existence.

She came back to her sense one more time, she was falling into desperation but it was almost impossible to notice, Toad never imagined what was passing through her mind.


	10. Chapter 10: Ghosts That Surrounded Me

**Chapter Ten:**

 **World 5-1: The Ghosts That Surrounded My Memories**

The day seemed to never come; Luigi was wondering what was happening on why the night and day were lasting longer? They were transition without any warning. A name came to his head "Rosalina" but it was just a mere shadow; she could see her, it was a shadow of what he thought could be the essence of creation and the same being who would be able to fix the mistake that happened within the time line.

A vague memory of him sitting on the top of the castle watching the moon and waving; Rosalina was watching. He smiled but he knew she wasn't there; as he kept walking on he noticed that there were no enemies, just some stones blocking the way. It was strange but he just jumped the obstacles and then he saw a swarm of Koopas and Goombas on the ground level.

He was thinking how to exterminate them as quickly as possible but he also noticed on the horizon, almost 15 feet away there were two Bill Blasters; the size of the cannons was 10 feet tall and almost 10 feet wide. He knew by instinct as soon he would be in position of the two Bill Blasters he was going to get bombarded by Bullet Bills and every single enemy would be carried on the way.

On the other side of the screen; Toad was looking at Peach while she was monitoring the screens; he had a knife and was planning to end the experiment by killing Peach and finally giving her corpse to Bowser. He knew that she wasn't going to be his, he regretted "saving" her and let Mario die, he knew that the power promised by the Koopa King was the ultimate reward and all that time living underground was a wasted time that he could had used to rule the south side of Mushroom Kingdom.

Luigi was feeling strange, a part of his abilities that was dormant was waking up, the skill to not only see ghosts but to detect the aura of living beings. The computer couldn't replicate heat signatures that were inherent to living organisms. He blinked and suddenly he realized his suspicions he wasn't in a real world, but he was trying to find out why everything had electrical impulses around it?

He kept looking to the north, where the sun was supposed to be and he saw a window behind the fake sun; there he saw two energy signatures, he recognized one it was Peach who was sitting on the only chair; behind he saw Toad. He started to feel anger, and without even realizing he propelled through the sky and before he could go any further to the crystal screen, Toad pushed Peach away and activated an emergency command that pushed Luigi back to the ground.

He grabbed the microphone and with his nasal and childish voice said – Don't you even dare to get out until you finish, tall fucker. Peach was astonished that Toad was showing some form of violence, his species was relative peaceful on their vast majority but he was exhibiting some behavior that wasn't his.

\- What happened to you? Asked Peach while trying to stand up.

\- I fall in love with you Princess, you are a goddess among us. The epitome of beauty and power.

\- What are you saying Toad?

\- I want to be with you until times end, you and I together forever. Said while laughing and screaming.

Many years ago Toad sold his soul to the devil, the devil promised him happiness and power but it became with a cost, the extermination of his people and the decimation of the Kingdom he called home since his birth. That devil gave him the power but it came with a price, he would have to save his most precious treasure in order to be with her.

That was Toad biggest decision and biggest regret. He was still holding the knife while he realized that Peach was fully up and she was executing one of her special techniques _Sleepy Time_ , he tried to run with the knife to kill her but he couldn't even move a muscle, he fell asleep on the floor.

\- I am still quite powerful even if my nexus to the Negative Force was severed; I will throw you on the jail just to play safe.

She wasn't even worried about Luigi, she was worried about her own safety, she even thought if he was dead she would restart the experiment with him. She went to the first level of the laboratory and she opened one of the cages they used to keep the specimens on check; she knew Toad wouldn't be able to break the cell because he lacked on the connection to the Negative Force on a full extent.

As soon she came back, she realized that Luigi was OK. She stopped the simulation and secured his vitals or organs weren't damaged. A few moments later he stood up and again looked at the sun, Peach interrupted the simulation and communicated with him directly.

\- What happened? Luigi asked from the grounds, shocked to see the empty room.

\- I promise I will explain everything with detail as soon I open the door of the chamber, I am glad you are OK.

\- I am all ears because at this moment I do not know what is happening.

The simulation ended a little bit earlier for Luigi, he was free to go but his surprise came as he passed the door and finally saw Peach after many years, she was older and demarcated because of the effects of surviving a terrible environment created by the invasion.

\- Princess, is that you? He was in horror after seeing her face and body.

\- It is me Luigi; It's been almost 20 years since we saw each other.

\- I remember you as if we saw yesterday… but, I died; what I am? Where I am?

\- You are clone, just the last one of many. You are in the underground Lab… well the remains of the underground laboratory that was owned by the armed forces of the Kingdom.

He was astonished by the size of the laboratory; he didn't even know the existence while he was alive; but his biggest shock was when the tour started. Peach escorted him to the different levels and he saw the tanks with the underdeveloped clones of him and Mario. He wanted to know where his brother was? She replied he was still inside the simulation because he wasn't awoken to his full potential yet.

She moved him to the third floor and he saw the screen; he was curious on how the laboratory worked as well the simulation. She explained that she could rotate all the rooms, there were a total of 9 rooms, all 15 stories high and they could simulate of being in an endless earth by moving platforms on the floor.

\- How did we come back to life?

\- We mixed the genes of the original ones with some Toad genes, not the one you think but from a random survivor who is hiding not far away that was a perfect match. Toad genes they can be manipulated to age any host into a desired time; in this case the time that you guys died.

\- So did you know about our demise and yet you sent us? Why?

\- I thought it could be the best decision, the Dark Mushroom attacked without a warning and I acted on my own decision to secure the survival. I made several mistakes and I am responsible of you guys, especially Mario getting mauled by Bowser and you drowned. We didn't recover your corpse until almost a week later, you ended up in the sewers not far away from here. Belome was the responsible for finding you.

\- What happened to him?

\- Bowser Jr. erased him from existence; his ability with the Negative Force has grown exponentially in which he I believe surpassed his father but still he can't defeat Bowser when this one uses his Final Smash.

\- Tell me Princess who else is alive?

\- You will meet them; Mallow is still alive but he closed every road to Nimbus Land; Geno died before Mario, almost within an hour. Much of the staff and people around were slaughter, some fled to the other kingdoms as the influence of the Dark Mushroom, we weren't that lucky because they took us by surprise but the others outside our land seemed to had survived.

\- That is terrible; oh my God I feel sick, I wasn't expecting to learn so much in such a short amount of time.

\- Right now we are below the castle but the entrance that connects the castle was dynamited, at least that was an idea of Toad in order to escape but he seemed he had some other interests. We could leave and exist on yours and your brother's terrain near Vista Hill. Nobody goes there anymore.

\- Where is Toad?

\- I jailed him in one of the specimens' container units; I've been using them as jails for years as they don't let anything escape. Can I ask you something Luigi?

\- Yes, Princess.

\- Did you recover your _ghostly vision_? The same ability that let you see ghosts but also heath sources of living beings?

\- Yes, ma'am that is how I discovered beyond the simulation room and saw you and Toad. After that I can't recall too much as I was knocked out by a force.

\- He activated one of the emergency protocols to restrain any of you in case you lost your sanity due the multiple "resurrections" but also if it wasn't for your reaction he probably would had killed me.

\- Can we see the outside world?

\- Not yet, we still need to wait for Mario to complete the course.

\- Why don't you free him?

\- His memories aren't yet fully complete and he needs to access his full potential. Luigi, you have to understand you are also on a fresh state, you need to rest for now when we are ready we will go out also you are more than willing to go and speak with Toad, let me know and I will go with you as the safety protocols are programmed to recognize my voice.

\- Sounds perfect. He replied with a smile on his face.


	11. Chapter 11: Bowser's Outside Story

**Chapter Eleven:**

 **Bowser's Outside Story – Preamble to the War**

It was almost 20 years before almost much of the Negative Force users reached the last stage of power in which by consensus it was called Final Smash. Bowser was one of the first to access that power albeit at first he was having issues into maintaining the form for more than ten seconds, eventually he mastered his ultimate power.

Before his Final Smash he was able to conjure a construct that manifested as a _mechakoopa_ of enormous proportions that crushed everything on Bowser's sight; he achieved that power after joining and foiling an invasion from an extraterrestrial force named the Smithy Gang. It all became for convenience as Bowser's lost his keep and his army in less than a day and agreed to help the _Mario Gang_ in exchange to recover his fortress and his subordinates.

As the raids progressed and the Mushroom Kingdom recovered the land Bowser gained new abilities and also he became more connected to the Force; that was the mistake Peach regretted that she gave him full understanding of the Negative Force through the time they shared together and slowly Bowser taught the access to his crew and family, but there was a mistake not all the beings were able to have full access and Bowser didn't realized until his Koopalings couldn't have a full access and transform.

He was happy the results, they improved their skills and special abilities but it was his only son from all his minions that started to master his ability of metamorphosis into a clone of Mario that could erase anything he touched out of existence. Probably from all the Final Smashes Baby Jr. was the most terrifying because of the effects it had and almost rivaled Mario as both could vanished anyone outside time and space by killing it.

He was trying to remember where did everyone learn the Final Smash, but there was a blank spot on his head. He remembered some form of a tournament, an interdimensional tournament where different beings competed for a maximum prize or to exterminate an ultimate evil. Master Core, he was remembering something, there was something more powerful than him, something that was at the very center of all realities.

He was remembering but it was just too vague. He remembered another name Tabuu, he remembered the non-corporeal form that he and Mario battled but he couldn't have remembered the rest. His memories were mixed, he remembered waking up in his castle with almost no knowledge of anything, he had a moment where he went where he kept the technology that he salvaged from Smithy's attack. He was feeling the urge to destroy again and devour existence to the very essence.

Then he saw the opportunity to fulfill his desires when he saw a shadow of hate on Toad's doubt about his own existence. He saw the taboo on the desire Toad wanted and he knew how to manipulated him in order to achieve and conquer his hunger. Bowser saw an endless possibility to achieve more power than he ever imagined.

Bowser Jr. was concerned about his father becoming more erratic, he was watching a behavior that wasn't there before they came back from the subspace emissary, he was the only one from their dimension and timeline who could remembered fully how they really developed some abilities that where beyond their connection to the Negative Force.

It seemed when the event that made several beings cross path into what it was called the subspace, all those beings started to develop different abilities or abilities that were evolved from previous ones. Mario ability of fire evolved to the point that he could exterminate any being by burning it to the core of his molecules. Bowser Jr. gained a similar ability but for him to use it he needed to transform into Mario albeit a shadow version.

His evolved ability was similar to a black hole, anything that he absorbed got destroyed but not fully to the very essence, he could expel some of the matter from his victims as well objects. He saw his father transformed into a giant version that he nicknamed Giga Bowser, he suspected that his power was related to Master Core as it was similar as one of the shadow forms.

Kammy Koopa was having certain suspicions also about the intention after the invasion was over, she was there sitting on the top tower of the castle watching the kingdom. She was remembering before the Mushroom expansion how the lands they were sitting belonged to the Koopas; she was happy with being back on her home but at the same time she was feeling guilty about the slaughter.

It was something she never envisioned, she was thinking on conquering the land but sparing everyone's else life. Her body wasn't perfect; she was old for the standards of Koopa's, she was almost 200 years old thus making her the eldest of the race but also she was one of her kind as she could manipulate the Force to see different outcomes of the future as well timelines.

She was worried that the end for Bowser and his lineage was imminent. She saw the very end of everyone but she knew that nobody would believe her as she was just an old mage who was far away from her glory and Bowser only appreciated for the advices but she never told him the truth on why she was so precise albeit vague.

Bowser Jr. was walking up to the towers to see Kammy, he passed through the throne room and it was a shadow of what it was, there was nobody there anymore and his father spend time with his war generals in order to plan the conquest of the entire galaxy system. It was a power that was corroding Bowser himself from the inside and there was no way to stop as it was similar to a pathogen agent without a cure. As soon he reached the upper chambers he saw Kammy sitting alone looking at the window. She didn't even look to see who was on the door and she asked – What do you need Jr.?

He was surprised on how she knew who was always around her. "I know why you are here". She said in a melancholic tone.

"Old one, I have a few questions, you probably have some answers"

"Go ahead young one"

"Is there a way to pull out that organism that infected him?"

"No, nobody can pull out the Core from Bowser"

"Is he really my father who is walking right now? I saw him getting infected on the last battle of that strange interdimensional tournament where several of us got upgrades in our skills."

"Jr. Your father died on that day, memories of him lingered and made the Core assimilated into a version of Bowser but to be honest what is absorbed by the Core has no way to be rescued and bring back to life; he destroyed the source of power that many of us used in order to fulfill our most inner desires"

"Why nobody stopped him?"

"Too much power, those few who opposed him got killed, he ate them."

"How do you know all of these Old one? He hasn't told you anything?"

"I have access to a side of the Negative Force in a more passive way, I can always see through time and space; see the different outcomes, dimensions, timelines and what will become"

"You aren't joking?"

"How do you think I always know who is near me without even looking?" Bowser Jr. realized at that moment what Kammy was saying it was true, she was always one step ahead but she lacked of any skills to fight him.

"I do have one more question"

"I have an answer for that one too, but let me ask you something to calm one of my doubts, when do you started to suspect?"

"About three years ago when a shadow started to emanate around him"

"To answer your unspoken question, that is the beginning of the end, he has at least another year before his outer shell finally collapse and becomes the monster he is harboring inside." Bowser Jr. started to cry when she said those words, she placed her hand around his left shoulder.

"Is there a solution to stop this?" He asked between tears.

"There is, Mario is coming and if you want to live and carry the Koopa lineage with peace, you better don't interfere in this war that is about to start because then all of us we are going to become extinct."


	12. Chapter 12: The Rapid Fire

**Chapter Twelve**

 **World 5-3: The Rapid Fire of Bullet Bill**

The illusion was breaking slowly; the holograms weren't as realistic as the first time. That wasn't reality, it was a construction of the senses; then again that what is reality, a mere illusion where we play our own games and perceive the world according to what we learn.

Mario was feeling tired and he fall asleep on the top of one of the hill where he felt the wind coming by near. It was the first time he felt tired and he was needing in the need to sleep for a moment. As he closed his eyes he started to dream.

He saw himself in the top of a tower, the tower was in a floating island, there was no ground on the bottom. The tower's bottom was a stronghold and in the stronghold there were Whomps. The world was broken at that moment, his dream started to become a reality, he was trapped inside a massive tesseract due the machinations of Bowser.

Bowser was probably one of the smartest being in the entire galaxy but as well his ego was his biggest weakness, he was the one who perfection the cloning technique as well the technology. He made it up in case he got murdered but as well to create false-flags in order to study the plumbers killing his clones. Peach faction were developing their own but it was unsuccessful until her aunt decided to infiltrate Bowser's Keep and find much of the progress about why Bowser seemed to be eternal even if he got killed several times.

The inspiration came there; it was a simple process where the clones were submitted into a DNA atrophy in which the course of 10 days the clone reached the maturity of the age they were when the last died. Memory implantation was more disturbing as it involved breaking the hypothalamus and connecting the entire brain into a series of audiovisual components from basic learning to the skills that they developed. It was extremely painful but after the memories where implemented into the clone then they went into a shock that left them in a coma for an about ten more days. Peach's aunt even thought about detonating the keep and kill everyone inside but the keep was under heavy surveillance and she wasn't powerful enough beyond keeping the illusion of being a Koopa.

Inside his dream Mario was walking slowly around the Whomp Fortress; it was empty as he could have imagined. It was divided into segment, it looked as a shadow of a war, Mario slowly descended into the lower section where the watchtower was located. He was waiting for someone but there was none.

After walking he found a lonely Bill Blaster on the side of the floor. He approached it and as quickly as possible a Bullet Bill was shot, he tried to avoid it but he was hit by it and was sent flying down to the ground level. He was wondering where he was and why he reached a memory of the past, but for a moment he forgot that he was dreaming.

The fortress itself was created as focal point that connected the Mushroom Kingdom Castle within different points of the world but as well Bowser defragmented the world that moment in order to conquer it and reclaim it. That was only a year before the Smithy invasion that decimated the Kingdom and only three years after they defeated him, in all that time he couldn't believe that Bowswer became a temporary allied. Yet the scenario was surreal; as the dream was being forgotten and being turned into a reality.

On the upper levels of the castle Kammy Koopa was preparing to go down, she wanted to go to the kitchen. It was almost 9PM and she realized none of the staff bring her something to eat to her quarters. The castle seemed to lost much of the former glory, it was much as a fortress. The walls were corroded and much of the old portraits were destroyed because of rage fits. She was wondering how much time they have left before the Master Core absorbed the entire world as well the galaxy.

It was a little bit over a year since she started to see the effects of the Core, it was consuming Bowser's body but not many people around could see it as they weren't connected to the Negative Force. The monster living inside Bowser was becoming a problem as the Core's essence was a parasitic in its nature. It would kill the host before going to his next victim, Kammy was wondering how much was left of the original Bowser behind?

She thought about killing him and restart the cloning process but one of her fears how many of the dormant clones where infected? There was a change in her heart and she knew her death was sooner that she imagined, she was going to go to the laboratory where they kept the Bowser's clones as well his memories and she was going to destroy every single genetic template's. She was remembering when she saw Princess's Peach aunt infiltrating but she didn't kill her even if she saw beyond her illusion. She knew that by giving the technology the future would be saved for everyone.

Her only regret was that even if she saw the different paths of the chaos, she didn't make an effort to stop anything; she wished she wasn't that passive and was more active on her decisions. She went to the kitchen, only to realize there was none of the servants there, she didn't suspect anything as they usually went to the Town's Inn on the weekends.

She checked on the drawers for a paper and pen, she wanted to leave Bowser Jr. a hidden message that she knew he was going to discover it. She wrote _Don't repeat the same mistake as your father, he loved you before he died on the Emissary; he was proud of you. Live your life to fullest and even if the Empire fall you and the others will have each other. That thing that walks don't confront it, is too powerful for you and I; please run away when you can, and please forgive me for my actions but sometimes we can't escape destiny. Love, Grandma._

She then proceeded to teleport the note to Jr. bedroom; the note would be hidden below his desk and he would find it two days after she died. As she finished teleporting it, she walked slowly to the lower East Chamber of the Castle where the Koopa laboratory was located; almost in close proximity where Peach was hiding and conducting her own cloning experiments. It was a concrete wall that blocked Peach from the castle as well some of the debris that was never cleaned. It was 10 years since Kammy placed a foot inside the laboratory; she always remembered how she and Ludwig developed the technology after the "first" Bowser was killed on a very poor planned invasion in which they turned much of the Mushroom people into stones and plants, he just fell on the lava and that was it.

After that they recreated the original one with some marrow they recovered as well with a spell that connected Star Road wishes with memories of all of the individuals. Then they turned those memories into a bit sequence in which the clones were bombarded with all the knowledge of their lives as well skills before coming back to life. It was as the originals never died, except Bowser died at least 68 times before finally breaking the cycle.

The Koopa lab was a mirror of the Mushroom Kingdom one, there was no difference because when the Kingdom Royalty developed the underground facilities they used a similar design into all the rooms as they were practical. There were six rooms in total, within the middle a war room, two rooms where lost in the invasion, which Peach took refuge inside not knowing that she was being betrayed by Toad.

She saw that the clones were infected also with the Core's essence, all of them where vessels, she knew it was matter of time when Bowser would appear as she was being observed. She smiled because her moment to do something to help was coming. She sat down in the middle of the second floor next to the tanks.

\- Spirits of the beyond, who laugh in the death. Hear my call, one time for help; use my body as an anchor and please help me bring chaos and destruction to this place.

A green column of light surrounded her almost instantaneously and the Boo's emerged from the light. The King of the ghosts came as well and they started to destroy everything on their sight. A few seconds later Bowser appeared almost out of nowhere.

\- Hag, I knew I was going to kill you when I saw you. You knew all along who I was and yet you let me do the conquer? Why?

\- I am not powerful enough to stop you neither any of the Koopa's that's why I didn't do anything; you bring destruction to all of us.

\- Of course; I feed on the hunger of my host but also I fulfill the desires but they come with a price and that is death.

\- How long it takes for you to consume your host?

\- Minutes not to say seconds. Bowser died as quickly as you imagined, everything about him was sent to the shadows as I emerged. His memories became mine but I never lost my very own essence, hag.

\- You are a monster.

\- I am the embodiment of chaos in the universe; I am part of the elder ones. We are an essential part of creation. You destroyed much of my vessels, Bowser's DNA is extremely powerful if you know how to use it. He had fear of his own power but as well he had ignorance, I took it to a next level with his Final Smash. I became a devoured in the perfect sense.

\- What would happen with me?

\- I do not know, I am not omnipresence or omnipotent, you seem to be the only one of all the users in all the dimensions that have access to the Negative Force in order to see all the possible outcomes.

\- Good answer, I will become part of the oblivion as anyone you absorb, but I have no regrets. I lived my life to the fullest. I am proud of you, my son.

Bowser immediately moved at a high speed, but he didn't devour Kammy, he just used his special technique Mokura in which Kammy suffocated in a slow painful death. The Master Core opted to not devour her as a mere courtesy for being his right hands for so many years as well as respect for his host.

On that last moment of the dream, Mario realized the dream was crumbling, Kammy materialized inside's Mario head. He felt that he knew her but at the same time they really never met before.

\- Please, you need to save my son from the monster that is consuming him. Destroy the core that lays inside Bowser.

After that Kammy vanished into the beyond, she became a start of the firmament. She joined the other people who died also, traveling around the cosmos as rapid fires produced by Bullet Bills in the sky.

 **END OF PART ONE.**


	13. Chapter 13: The Great Maze

**Chapter Thirteen**

 **The Great Maze in the Subspace**

Bowser Jr. was remembering, at least trying to remember with full detail. He was there on a space where there was no light, there was shadows. He was in the middle of a quasar, he among others were breaking the maximum taboo, they were going to kill the essence of the universe as it became corrupted. The tournament had no name but Mario called it _Smash Brothers,_ but the so called tournament had a more of somber tone, the true essence was looking for a replacement as he wanted to die.

He had two memories, one of them fighting on a hallway full of whirlwinds of different colors with a shadow version of a dragon who couldn't talk, he couldn't have remembered his name but he knew it was from another dimension and he was fighting a dark version of an enemy who looked like Luigi but only taller.

He was thinking on how much time they spent inside that maze, and his last memory was his father absorbing the core before being engulfed by shadows, then he woke up on the Keep. It looked like a dream, a mere dream but that was the moment that their existences returned to normality. It wasn't a dream; it was reality but a reality he couldn't remembered fully.

As he finally woke up, he went to the kitchen for some water and later he went back to his room. He noticed that Kammy was missing, there was no signs of her at all. He started to panicked what she saw became a reality. He started to worry about her, she usually was having breakfast early on the patio but nobody seemed to remembered her.

Her room was empty, there were no items related to her. Everything that was from Kammy vanished just overnight, then after giving up he went back to his room. As soon he came back, the note that Kammy hid the night before slip from the lower side of his desk, he stood up quickly and grabbed the note.

Tears came through his eyes, he had to hide the note as it was the last memento he had from Kammy. He didn't want to grab unwanted attention from his father, but he didn't know what to do, he knew he was powerless against the Master Core, he was nothing against the essence of one of the Elder Ones of the universe.

Mario was standing by himself, he woke up from his dream, there were tears on his eyes. Peach and Luigi where looking from the other side of the room. – The simulation is over. He said. Peach was wondering how he discovered the simulation? She was wondering if it was a similar experience as Luigi, but she realized Mario had no control over time as his brother.

Inside World 5-3, Mario turned his flame to the maximum, his entire body burned the illusion. There were no more platforms, there was no more fake night, there were no more fake enemies. Reality was different, it was only a large, blank sterile room with a door on the end and an encased observation deck on the top.

He smiled to see his brother and Peach, Peach forgot her previous worries and ran downstairs' to go inside the third simulation room. She realized he woke up finally, the memories where awaken. His surprise was probably the worse, he wasn't expecting to see an aging Peach, he wasn't expecting to be dead for more than 10 years.

As Peach went inside, he hugged him and her first words where – I am sorry love "Sleepy Time". She hit Mario with her spell and he automatically fall asleep. She wasn't going to take any risks with him as he was more volatile than Luigi.

On the upper levels Bowser Jr. was thinking on an escape plan, he thought to hide on Mushroom City based on Kammy's advice. To go as far as possible and if he was going to be detained he was going to take the punishment. He was going to wait until the evening to use the shadows to escape, he had some money left to buy a ticket to the ferry and travel to BeanBean Kingdom and from there to go as far away as possible.

His family was destroyed; the last person he could trust was dead so as his father died in front of him. Maybe the plan of the Elder was just to get a new vessel and keep living for a little bit longer? He was confused, he didn't know what to do. He couldn't feel his father essence anymore, he assumed he wasn't inside the castle as well as the Koopalings.

It wasn't going to be difficult for him to escape, the problem for him was to know what to do with his life after running away. He probably would figure something out, his main goal was to gather some of his belongings and then never to look back.

Mario woke up inside one of the contention units. He heard Toad's voice not far away but he wasn't angry anymore, he was at peace to finally be back to life. He and Luigi both had many questions about what happened and how long they were really out.

\- Princess. Said Mario. How long we both been out?

\- It's difficult to explain, because technically I started the cloning process almost a year after you two died and that has been almost 15 years. The problem goes that the clones, you are a clone also, the previous ones didn't recover the full memories at all, it was with you two that essence came back. You guys died at least over 46 times over and over, I felt incredibly frustrated because it seems the process was becoming stale and every time you guys hit World 1-2 of the simulation you died, you couldn't escape.

\- I can remember some of those deaths. Said Mario.

\- Me too. Replied Luigi with a somber look.

\- Every time you died I placed the memory inside you, in the hope you could learn from a memory and keep forward.

\- Princess. Said Mario with a sad look on his face. It wasn't your fault that I died; you panicked, I was trying to protect on the last attack from Bowser, I remember you running away with Toad. I was trying to protect you from Toad also.

\- I suspected; he tried to betray me about a day ago; Luigi broke from the illusion of the maze that my family created when he heard my cry. But, how did you fully broke from the illusion of the holograms?

\- Kammy Koopa, she told me on my dream that I need to wake up. That was the final moment. She was devoured by her child; not her child Princess, the Master Core. The same essence that we all went to destroy on the Subspace Emissary; the same thing that we thought it was destroyed by Bowser in reality it escaped by consuming Bowser. He killed Kammy.

\- So the old hag was alive after all these years? What a surprise, I can't believe she got murdered by her own child.

\- Not her child, Bowser died on the Subspace, he got consumed almost instantly by the Core. That was the message I was going to give you before we got ambushed. Toad knew it, the Core saw his desires and he was consumed also. Where is he?

\- Next to us in another contention unit.

\- That's all what I wanted to know. Princess, remember one tiny ability I have to enter a parallel dimension while I was on my dreams? I parallel dimension that I could walk on different points of the world while I was asleep?

\- Yes, what are you trying to say?

\- You two, take a look behind you. There is a red door, I just created. I want you to take a look behind you.

Peach and Luigi looked in fear, when they realized a red materialized out of nowhere. It was there just behind them, and behind Mario there was another one.

\- You see, I just discovered this dormant ability of mine can actually work in the real world. I do not need potions or anything, is just my sheer will to create and my desire to escape. There is a limit on this ability, it seems besides being able to access the subspace of the subcon to travel certain distances, I need to see physically where I am going.

\- Mario, what are you thinking? Luigi asked while stuttering.

\- Luigi, I am going to kill Toad, I just need to see the location of his cell and I will access.

\- I will slow time Mario; you won't be able to do too much around where you open the door.

\- It won't work, I don't need to be fully outside and I assume the door won't have any effect of your time dilation because your skills won't work on the subcon, and I will be inside it. I just need to look.

Peach was trying to think what to do; she didn't want Toad to get murdered because she was in the need of all the information she could possible draw from him. She realized something incredible disturbing, Mario could be as equally as powerful as Luigi, probably even more; she theorized that maybe the reason he never manifested his full set of powers beyond his fire based skills was out due a subconscious fear.

It was less than 10 seconds, Luigi or Peach couldn't stop Mario. He disappeared behind his door, he was fast up to the point Luigi couldn't slow time around him. The door behind him slightly open; and as he slowed time around it, nothing happened. He realized his brother was right, his powers didn't work inside the subconscious space.

The door vanished in a fraction and another one appeared just behind Toad. Luigi tried to slow time again while Peach was trying to deactivate the security protocol. It didn't work, Mario only pulled his hand and grabbed Toad inside the subspace.

The subconscious space or subspace was a creation of the citizens of the entire world. It was a place in between the real world and the dream world; not a parallel dimension but a pocket one in between the two world, a path better to say. It was connected to the Negative Force as it was a creation to contain the evil in the world. Only Mario had access to it, it was the first set of his abilities that manifested on his own without the use of Fire Flowers.

He never used again because he pulled out some nightmares or subcons from that world into the Mushroom Kingdom and he became fearful that he could bring outside something else. Out of hate he learned that was nothing to fear but that he had control in the world between the Subcon and the Mushroom Kingdom. He was the master and he could travel in between without any repercussion.

The inside of the subspace was a world filled with shadows; there was only incidental light. Toad woke up after being knocked out, he was confused as he didn't know where he was. He saw another door, similar as the one where he got absorbed. He realized he was inside the laboratory, but there was no signs of Peach or Luigi, everything was covered in shadows around everything, there were no colors at all, with the exception of a pale blue.

He started to panic when the door opened and Mario appeared from the inside. Toad tried to back up and run; he knew he was going to get killed. He thought about going to the surface but he realized all the hatches were closed. Then he surrendered, he just lay on the floor while Mario walked to him.

\- What are you going to do to me? Where I am? Asked him, with a very high pitch voice.

\- You are in the subspace you little rat; is a dimensional corridor between the Kingdom and the Subcon. I used to have access only in dreams but my hate for you made me realized I can use this ability on the real world. There is no light here, no sounds, no fear, no love, no nothing, there is no hope. This is as close as you can get to limbo.

\- You haven't answer my question…

\- You little Goomba wannabe, I am going to let you burn to the ashes, but I have one question why did you sold the Kingdom to Bowser or better say to the Core?

\- Because I wanted to kill you, I wanted the Princess for myself! You guys came second from the other world, she was our savior, she is gorgeous and graceful. Overall I wanted to rule with her and you were in the way.

Toad tried to jump and punch Mario in the face; but he realized after trying he could barely move. He was weal as any other of his species. Mario created a small explosion with his fire and sent him back to the wall.

\- You have no access to the percentage to the Negative Force here; anyone else except myself their abilities will be render useless. Mostly because I am the one who created the path, you see Toad. Said, while walking around the subspace laboratory. I have to set of abilities, much like Luigi, I have a better control over fire up to the point that I reached the ultimate level of the Ultra Flame when we were sent to the Subspace Emissary many decades ago. I remember everything, there our powers got awoken, not only ours some other beings from different dimension who participated had the same effect.

It gets' better, my powers were awoken when we reached this world almost 36 years ago. Fire manipulation seemed to be inherent, but as Luigi could control time I could control space by mere will. My abilities aren't fire related only, they are related to the shadows, that's why I was able to access the subspace. Being here makes me realize there are plenty of citizens who are still alive, I can feel that desire through the shadows that feed this place; but there is a catch. Time here pass slower, if I was in a dream state I wouldn't worry but 10 minutes continuously in this place would be the equivalent of 6 hours in the Mushroom Kingdom, that's why I want to use this dimension to teleport as quick as possible.

\- I hope you rot in hell Mario!

\- Not yet; that will be you. I do have one more question; do you feel any remorse?

\- Fuck no.

\- Then, I hope you burn into the ashes. Mario placed his palm over Toad's head, and the little Mushroom started to burn.

Toad was screaming in agony, while Mario was watching. He was sitting in one of the chairs. "I was trying to put a hold on you before you sold me, I hope in the death you could find peace" It only took a few seconds, before Toad finally collapsed. There was nothing else, it was just a pile of ashes

Mario opened another door and he appeared in front of Luigi and Peach again. Peach was concerned that Mario showed no remorse into dragging Toad to kill him.

\- Why Mario? Said her in tears.

\- You seem to have a great heart Princess even with all your demons; he could had warned the Master Core about our whereabouts; and also now that my memories are fully present the reason I killed him it was to settle an old debt; he never did anything in order to help me when I was being impaled by Bowser.

\- He took me to safety. Replied Peach.

\- He wanted me out so he could be with you and have the Kingdom. You were his precious gem, that's why he didn't killed you but he wanted you. There was no love, just lust, he was becoming more human than anything else. We need to think how we will vanquish the Master Core, time is running out and I can say your experiment to bring the essences of the Plumbers was a success.


	14. Chapter 14: We Went to War

**Chapter Fourteen**

 **The Invasion: When We Went to War**

About a week later Bowser Jr. arrived to Rogue Port, there he found sanctuary with some of his old father's minion who got asylum on the northwest of the continent. He was far away from the influence of his "father", he was feeling alone for the first time in his life as there was nobody that he considered family.

He knew he was having a new beginning to do things right and enjoy life peacefully. The small brick house on the East Side seemed comfortable enough but not comfortable as the palace. Rogue Port was a bastion of criminals and people who could barely make a living; it was a trade center of the Mushroom Kingdom on its north side. It was surrounded by a wall and on the South Side the docks were located.

Some of Bowser's crew moved there after their master started to act erratically, and Jr. moved in with two former Goombas whose daughter was assisting the University of Goom to pursue a degree in Archeology. He was wondering what really went wrong and if it was part of a divine plan in order to keep bringing chaos and desolation in the form of a new host.

The first action of who he assumed who was his father was to ensemble a line of the Axe Rangers. Some of the Smithy technology didn't go destroyed after his defeat, and it was just there on the basements of the Keep. Little by little the lines of the Smithy Gang were resembled, one by one they were there sitting on the basement of the castle. Bowser Jr. believed when Exxor disintegrated some of the items of the lines didn't crossed over the other dimension with it, instead they became stranded on the Bowser Keep's grounds.

There were some models of the Axe's that didn't were absorbed as well much of the Operatives. A year after they were ready, his second step was to travel to the Bean-Bean Kingdom, where somehow he gathered Cackletta essence and resurrected her. She wasn't the same, she was completely loyal to Bowser when in the past she was just a being full of hatred; the most amazing fact became that her previous body got fully reconstructed.

She stayed on the Bean Kingdom waiting for new orders. Dimentio was the next one to follow, as he was resurrected with the Purity Heart and thus turning again the powerful artifact into the Chaos one. Tabuu came later and he was probably the most problematic of his crew, as even if Master Core was the embodiment of everything, he created Tabuu as a representation of the subspace or to better explained as a contradiction that represented time itself.

How to defy God himself? Bowser Jr. was wondering as he was watching the sky, he was wondering about the cosmos and the other worlds they visited. It was impossible that God wanted to kill everyone in a twisted game, that he manipulated the entity known as Tabuu, that the Subspace was designated to bring a _new order?_ He was going insane with so many thoughts on his head, on why the true motifs of the Master Core to do such a complex plan.

He didn't realize that universe was dying, and that the Core was trying to find a new avatar. The avatar wasn't the one he expected to be and he got corrupted in the process. Neither Jr. or Kammy couldn't understood the magnitude of the reason the Master Core pulled the event; as it was dying he was in the need of a successor, someone who could withstand his power but even with his omnipotence, she made a mistake, he couldn't saw the correct path as was expecting Mario to be the reincarnation.

After Bowser absorbed the Core, Bowser became corrupted by the already corrupted Core. The Core consumed his soul as Bowser wasn't strong enough to keep him sustained. Bowser died peacefully, there was no pain when he was consumed but because of his desires his memories transformed the Master Core into something sinister. He transformed it into an essence of destruction where slowly through Bowser's body he was destroying the galaxy and subsequently he would destroy the universe itself, without any chance of the universe to _reset_ itself after the _death cycle._

How to kill God? That was the question Jr. was having while looking the sky; there was no way to kill an immortal being who was trapped in an endless cycle called eternity. The simple idea of ascending into a god seemed surreal but at the same time there was a thought in his head that maybe God didn't have a conscious of his own but rather he, she, they were a conscious of previous hosts, the people who ascended in order to keep order in the universe.

If Kammy was right, Mario would be the executioner and the order would be restored but if Kammy saw something wrong then everyone would die and be consumed at the end of the Master Core life cycle.

The first wave took place not long ago after they returned from the Subspace, they organized and resurrected the allies, constructed the ships and created seven sets of Axe Rangers that were precisely and deadly, their software was improved to the point they felt no emotions towards no one. Each team were given to the Koopalingsm in order to assist them. Systematically they destroyed the Mushroom Kingdom with the airships.

One by one, each town was destroyed, traitors were execution, it was planned to every little. The Core pulled what Bowser couldn't out of his unrequited love to Peach – Destroy the Kingdom- and then after many years he was running away after being a son of a bitch towards his own people, he went to ask for forgiveness in Rogue Port. As he didn't know what to do or how to survive.

Peach was looking in horror at Toad's unit. He was gone, there was no possible way to resurrect him without any genetic sample. He was just absorbed to a pocket dimension, to a passage between dreams and reality and never came back.

She stood up and asked Mario again why he did it? Mario with his heavy accent replied the same – Traitor-, she was also curious about on why he was able to activate an ability that was generally dormant and it was only possible to access when they were sleeping.

\- Mario, have you ever had access to the subcon space?

\- As many people of the Kingdom Princess.

\- Yes, I know but we aren't from here, we weren't born here, well only myself.

\- Can you explain yourself?

\- You guys, when I started the cloning process I mixed you with the DNA of the Toads in order to give your bodies a proper stability, you guys aren't human, fully human anymore. You still have the DNA of the templates that's why you have access to your abilities as well Luigi.

\- So, we aren't as we supposed to be?

\- No, your DNA itself was quite unstable without the aid of the Toads. I've been thinking for a few hours now, probably your abilities mutated within the experiment. The subcon door can only be access through the dreams, is a space where we can access a world that is a mirror or a shadow of ours. Between that world there is this space that can be accessed with totems that become potions when we sleep, the subspace; is a world filled with shadows where there is only despair.

\- I know, as you I was able to do it in my sleep; I feel that Kammy was aware of this dimension and she also went inside to say goodbye. That's probably the reason I realized the dream space could be brought to the real world. I always had full control up to the point many decades ago it was my fault that Birdo came to this world when she wasn't even a physical being. I thought out of hate and desperation "I need to escape" that's how the door appeared.

\- That is just amazing, I was thinking that maybe out of fear you could had repressed this ability for many years but I am thinking now that it was there, there to be awoken.

\- There is a setback, I can only make a door on a place I am seeing. I can't open doors to any other subspace I am not in contact with. It will open where I am existing and from there I can control the shadows. It will be a prison to who goes with me, time goes slower, 10 minutes is almost six hours.

\- Mario. Said Luigi.

\- Yes Weegee. Him replied with a smile.

\- Don't call me like that please. You can control space and I can control time. Before you escaped, I realized I could stop time for at least 5 minutes. You and I we have access to some skills of the Negative Force that nobody else has.

\- That is true. For a long time, I felt my Final Smash was just an updated version of the _Ultra Flame_ but I feel I was holding it back, the fear of being able to destroy everything around me or to burn it to the ashes. Technically my flames are connected to my ability to manipulate space as _they hold the ability to bring light or to bring shadows._

\- Mario. Asked Peach. Do you think you would be able to bring Bowser down through one of the doors?

\- I don't know Princess, the doors seem to be small in theory, only beings around our height and weight could go through. I could try at the moment of truth if Bowser could be absorbed that could be a start as we can close the door and he would be stuck on a dimension that exists away from everything else.

All of three were sitting in the last level of the control room, they were watching the inside of one of the hologram rooms. The room wasn't in use; it was just there without anything. Luigi was wondering about what would had happened after they died? the time they were without any memories of the outside world. He was wondering about the chaos and despair people lived because of the invasion.

He remembered the moment he drowned on the south ocean near Seaside Town, falling slowly and sinking into the abysm as there was no pain and no memories. There were only shadows around him and suddenly there was nothing. Before that, he started to saw the Axem Rangers jumping to him as well Ludwig, he stopped time in his mind. He realized that Ludwig wasn't himself, he was an extension of the Master Core, the Core was acting as a disease infecting certain beings around him, it didn't matter if they weren't mechanical in nature of biological, his will was there on the bodies of the people he took control or influenced over.

Luigi realized something, the invasion could be something else, he saw the same shadows on his memories that the Master Core was exhibiting when they fought him on the Subspace.

\- That wasn't Bowser, Bowser died! We are facing the Master Core! He screamed out of nowhere. Mario and Peach looked at him as a strange thing.

\- Luigi, what do you mean? Said Peach.

\- I remembered something, Princess. When I died, there were shadows coming from Ludwig and the Axem's, they were covered in Shadows as we saw on the Subspace Emissary coming from the Core himself and his followers, the followers of worship the essence of God. We didn't kill the Core, the Core absorbed Bowser and came with us.

\- Are you insane? We can go to the medical bay and I can check on your brain, the cloning process is still not perfect.

\- No Princess, I am OK. I am feeling OK, that invasion wasn't Bowser. The Core, I think submitted us there in order to find a replacement but the Core wasn't expecting to Bowser to tag along in the last battle, he was expecting to see us and the beings from the other dimensions in order to find a replacement, a vessel to continue existing. Bowser wasn't planned, he was just a _bad guy_ who at the end tried to find redemption and ended up being consumed by the Core because he wasn't strong enough, only people with a pure heart with a sense of justice and equality could become the vessels. Not him.

\- So you said God made a mistake? Mario asked.

\- Yes, but I think the reason is because his cycle of life was coming to an end with his previous host, with the host he took from the previous tournament.

It suddenly made sense; Peach, Mario and Luigi realized that they weren't fighting Bowser himself but just his shell, they were fighting the ghost in the machine. The same _ghost_ who killed them and got corrupted by Bowser's inner desires of violence and domination. They realized the moment they were going to stood outside the laboratory they were going to need all the help to find and defeat the Master Core because there was no they were going to hide again


	15. Chapter 15: Dead Goomba's Walking

**Chapter Fifteen**

 **The Invasion: When the Dead Walk**

It didn't happen overnight, the first and second waves were planned in detail for two years, the reconstruction of the machines was a process that it took time; the ensemble of an army and let the ones who were fallen to walk again back on Earth took another year in order to find the places where they died.

Within the first wave Cackletta appeared as pink and purplish mist above the Mushroom Kingdom, she took by storm and possessed everyone who was outside. Families and towns were decimated almost in the blink of an eye; kids where left to fend by themselves, it only took half a day, the individuals who were possessed lost all traces of their emotions, they were as mindless as Boo following its king.

People just fell and as soon Bowser gave the signal, she killed them all the possessed with a massive heart attack. It became the first genocide in the history of the Mushroom Kingdom. After they died, the second invasion came two days later; Dimentio killed 30% of the population by inducing them in a sleep coma, the second night he produced a sleep induced stroke and killed them within their sleep. Much of the remaining survivors fled the Kingdom, leaving the remaining lands for the resistance as well for the Koopas to live in.

The third wave came with the Koopalings in which they tried to whip everyone who decided to remain in the Kingdom. The last wave became the deadliest one in which much of the Kingdom protectors were executed one by one. After the fourth wave a period of peace came around the cities around the Kingdom, they weren't touched by the invasion forces and economy bloomed.

Deep inside, the Core achieved what Bowser wanted in life, he conquered the Mushroom Kingdom but out his love of Peach he was always felt bounded. After the conquest he lost his desires, he realized his mistake that he wasn't in the right host and that the Universe was going to die as soon his existence ended.

Bowser's body couldn't hold the Core for too long, there was going to be a catastrophe around five years after the invasion. There was no other elder god who could sustain the essence of the universe. He was thinking about Rosalina, but she was at that moment traveling around the universe and it would take her around 100 years to come back again to the galaxy he was in.

She could fix it by resetting his existence and helping him to find the host he desired; but that was just a dream that he couldn't even fix, because he couldn't locate her around the cosmos. The body of his host was slowly decaying and he was letting his essence lose; he couldn't feel that benevolence he felt, he couldn't felt the desire to keep fighting, he was feeling much as an entity of destruction.

Deep in his memories he was remembering the last moment of the fight in the Subspace emissary. He saw Sonic, Mario, Luigi and Link. Each one of them were destined to become his avatar, each one of them had was he was looking for and they were the winners of the preliminary events. Then he realized his plan wasn't perfect because Bowser tagged in, the same being who was full of hate and confusion, the same being that came inside with other representations of evil in order to conquer the essence of the universe.

At his very last moment the Core realized there was no winners, his power wasn't absolute, he made a mistake a big mistake because the group of individuals who wanted his power for evil conquered him. That very last moment when Bowser hit the final blow and the Core exploded into his very soul, he was absorbed by the King of the Koopas and he saw himself bounded to his soul, the same soul that he ended up devouring. He became the power behind a dead body that was slowly decaying into oblivion.

The history of the Mushroom Kingdom became tainted in blood as well it became the beginning of the apocalypses. He was looking himself in a mirror from the King's bedroom. He could saw his very own essence was decaying from the inside, he didn't have too much time left. He was wondering if the heroes from the other realities would suffer as soon every single dimension would cease to exist.

Does a new God would rise when there was no essence left? There could be a collapse of reality and the universe won't be able to reset itself at the end of the Crunch. It was just a moment where the Core regained some conscious and after that the shadows of his host overwhelmed him. The hate was flourishing as time passed but also the feeling of dying for the first time, the same feelings the mortals experienced, the Eldest One of universe was slowly embracing them but as well he was losing the little he had left from his own existence.

A long time ago there was a space where memories existed. It was called the Subspace, the subspace became the nexus of all realities and it folded between himself. One side became a world of shadows that only a few could access, from the other side on the world of light it became an amalgam of the universe in which the Master Core existed.

From the light side a series of sentient beings known as the Robotic Operating Buddies. They were created by the Core to act as his seers and keep balance to the nexus. In order to achieve a perfect balance, The Master Core split his essence into three non-corporeal beings. The Judge of the Universe named Tavuu, Master Hand the Being of Creation and then Crazy Hand the harbinger of Destruction.

With that trinity of power life began in the omniverse. There was only one set of judges across the entire cosmos who ruled with equity, but his will wasn't perfect because at the moment he gave life to his three creations they gained a life of their own. They knew they harbored the power of the God of the universe but they were free to act on their own wills.

The only problem the Core didn't realized it was that his vessel Crazy Hand would put an end to every universe and would bring death to every single being, but to counteract that cycle of destruction. Master Hand placed that at the end of each universal life cycle there would be a tournament that would chose the new being as act as vessel for a half of the power of the Core, while Tavuu letting him exists as a separate entity.

Peach was debating how to access the upper levels of the castle; she knew she could escape from the Mushroom Way emergency exist, or use the sewers and escape through the Kero Sewers. She didn't fear Bellome as he was murdered in the process of the invasion. She decided to go through the sewers as she thought it was the best option to end in the Midas Fall and reach the ruins of the Tadpole Pond.

She saw the entire room for one more time before leading everyone to a safe spot. She was wondering what was next on their journey? So many questions about the future but at the end she was just concerned about her own safety. She had a feeling that wasn't the last time they were going to be inside the laboratory.

As they were walking out, one of her earliest memories of the war showed up by remembering how Cackletta engulfed Toad Town and killed 90% of the population within a margin of 24 hours. Nobody was sure how the "poison" at first acted but one of the surviving doctors of the Kingdom suggested that it could be a viral agent that acted after certain time.

The virus acted within a 12 margin interval. The first 12 hours made the victims lost all tracks of their memories. They stopped breathing, they stop remembering, they had to be connected to oxygen tanks and breathing machines. Death showed up 12 hours later but they didn't die, they just started to walk, they were empty carcasses of what they were.

There was a moment after the first 48 hours that the first en-mass massacre appeared. Cackletta at the distance activated a side effect, as a small dose of her body was inside the infected she could control them. As soon the next day arrived, the infected who slumbered into the first 12 hours woke up. They started to act in a frenzy, killing everyone on their sight, they became beasts who later succumbed to the last effects of the virus.

It became a panorama that it was never imagined on the Mushroom Kingdom, it was mostly as warning; mostly because Toad Town had a population of 25 million of inhabitants. The next wave was the worst, it was the one who became the one that decimated the Mushroom Kingdom population and made much of the survivors fled in fear.

Dimentio was a monster of the legends, one of the eldest beings in the universe. He was the first to travel between all dimensions but his biggest ability laid upon being able to drag people into a place he called _Dimension D._ It didn't matter if you were awake or asleep, that was the place he could drag you and kill you by mere fear. That became his biggest feature, he dragged almost 45 million inhabitants who were asleep into his Dimension D.

There he produced an illusion of an ancestral being known as Hooktail, a powerful dragon that used to be part of the Koopa's folklore and used to inhabit on the east side of the Kingdom. Not all the victims died, a merely 2% survived and shared information about the deadly dream, they agreed that the attack was localized on a patch of land and the villain only acted around a certain amount of radius in order to create the illusions.

900.000 people fled the Kingdom's domain, in less than a two months after the second wave. Barely 600 stayed behind, the last individuals who stayed were the Plumbers, Peach, some citizens who couldn't fled, members of the resistance and members associated with the Mushroom Army.

The Kingdom was in ruins after a year, it took only a year to decimate the Kingdom in a perfectly planned attack. Not even the allies helped Princess Peach, she was alone in a battle with a being so powerful that nobody else wanted to intervene even if that meant the end of the world. A year passed before the last wave, in that last wave, the last survivors died, Mario and Luigi died within two months of each other, Mario blamed himself for a long time because he couldn't prevent it. He died knowing that Toad betrayed everyone in exchange for power.


	16. Chapter 16: A Friend Who Saw Tadpoles

**Chapter Sixteen**

 **The Invasion: A Friend Who Saw Tadpoles Crying**

Years had passed and Mallow grew up to resemble his late father; after many years his abilities developed into a perfect combination of weather manipulation. His memories of the invasion always struck him on a daily basis, as he couldn't save anyone he loved. He always wondered why Bowser finally did it? Why he organized a full fledge invasion after many years of just bluffing it?

The pond was a sad place, just a shadow of what it was, it became a graveyard for the Tadpoles and the Frogs. He was sitting alone above the tomb of his grandfather while watching in the horizon the top of Booster Tower. He was wondering if there were people inside, survivors that nobody heard about it.

He decided to walk to the tower and see if there were people hiding. It became easier for him to walk unnoticed around the land, he rarely walked around as he became unattached to the problems of the surface but there was something in him, wondering if there were survivors inside the tower. The tower that once was the opulence in gaming around the country, now it was an abandoned skyscraper.

The yellow color that was once around it was faded, almost grey, it seemed nobody lived there in decades. The entrance was cover in ruins, ne noticed that Booster's terrace was destroyed and that it fell on the left side of the tower. The tiny main gate was open, probably because of the rust and lack of maintenance.

The main room was in ruins, as he expected. The only thing left standing was the receptionist desk and the phone that had tone and was probably functioning.

\- Hello, I am a friend! If you are looking for shelter, I can help you. I promise I am not with Bowser or the Koopas. He only got silence.

As he decided to go upstairs, he noticed that probably he was right there was nobody there. On the second floor he noticed there was an elevator system instead of a Thwomp. He took it just to continue to the next level. As he walked he realized much of the toys he saw sitting around the different rooms where Booster's minions; he understood a reality – taking away the Sniffits and Shy Guys, Booster was actually a very lonely individual. –

Booster ability to give life to inanimate objects was spectacular, he created an army out of toys; but probably his magic was even more powerful than Mallow imagined because some remains of his testament where still lingering, the alteration of a physical space to create a pocket size dimension that was bigger the size where his tower was sitting. His tower on the outside of the ground level was barely 500 ft2 but inside was as big as the Royal Castle in Mushroom Kingdom.

He started to wonder what happened to Booster? He was a powerful sorcerer, skillful enough to stop any of the minions of Bowser, he had the abilities to beyond much of the Chestnut People dream but he was suspecting he got slayed without any hesitation. He wasn't even sure who killed him or if he was dead at all; he was thinking on the moment that he fled to Marrymore to marry Peach but later went for Valentina, he almost destroyed the crew, even Bowser… but there were no signs of him at all.

As he walked upstairs he realized that probably Booster was one of the most powerful individuals far beyond his speculations; the upper levels of his tower defied gravity and space. The tower was his last testament, which made him wonder how long before it actually collapsed?

On the last wave of the invasion, before Mallow fled and Geno got devoured. Booster tried to defend the Tadpole Pond, he arrived late and the last survivor who was Toadofsky was slowly dying because being stabbed. Everyone was dead, everyone was murdered, it became chaos in the land. Booster tried to heal him but he couldn't do too much, he explained to Booster that the end came in the form of metallic soldiers that stabbed everyone with axes.

Booster was confused as he never heard or saw something as that, but to his horror he got ambushed by a troop of Earth Links. The mechanical snakes appeared out of nowhere, he tried to counteract them with his signature move Loco Express in order to escape, but the mechanical foes didn't let him too much option to use his Spirtiz Bomb and take damage on his own attack in order to escape.

As far and fast he was going he couldn't escape the Carni-Kiss attack from one of the Earth Links that tailed him. The poison went right away through his body and he became desperate because he had no cure available for it; he knew his only safe-haven was to return to the tower and die peacefully there. He was trying to think an alternate plan to heal his body by manipulating reality, he couldn't process his thoughts properly as the poison he was injected was high effect and designed to kill instantaneously almost everyone.

When he saw the entrance of his tower he realized that he wasn't being followed; besides himself his Snifits where still inside. He knew nobody from outside could enter unless he granted permission; he was happy to be in his home. As soon he placed a foot inside, he made the outside gate be locked under the influence of the Negative Force. None of the enemies were able to place a foot inside; his Snifits noticed that he was mortally injured and didn't knew what to do.

He requested them to let him die and as soon the enemies where far away from the tower, they should find a way to go to the Bean-Bean Kingdom or Rogueport on the north side of the continent. As he died, his body started to disintegrate and the dust fused with the tower. A few days later the Snifits said goodbye and never looked back.

Mallow was puzzled as he was feeling the tower was being a living entity, in which it was trying to survive also. The empty walls and the carcasses of the puppets became too much for him and he wanted to go back, he realized there were no survivors in the tower but he wanted to go to the very top and see the world again.

The last room, Booster room bring him memories of the past. There in the room where some old dolls that survived the trials of time, each of those dolls where a representation of each of the heroes. There was a Bowser, Geno, Mario, Peach and one of his doll on different parts of the room. He gathered them and placed them near the window; he realized he could saw much of Booster Pass as well Tadpole Pond perfectly, some good memories came to his mind when times were just simpler.

He wanted to turn back time and be more proactive, save his family, his grandfather, Geno, he wanted to be brave. Then a voice from the past was heard, it was Peach who was following him. He for the first time felt some happiness because he didn't know what happened to her but his biggest surprise came to see Mario and Luigi behind her, he wasn't expecting to see them, he just ran to them, he knew he had to hug them to know he hasn't dreaming.

Last chapter already written.


	17. Chapter 17: Conversations with the Bones

**Chapter Seventeen**

 **The Invasion: Conversations with the "Dry Bones" in the Toy Maker Tower**

Mallow was in shock, he couldn't believe that Mario and Luigi were back, Peach explained to him that after they were defeated she dedicated some time in order to clone them and the experiment was eventually successful. For Mallow both plumbers were as the Dry Bones, just walking corpses, no mere different than a Boo or a Shadow. He was perplexed to see them back, even if their bodies weren't the originals it noticed much of their memories and souls were the ones met.

The last room of the tower, the main premises of the "toy maker" were in ruins. The door of the balcony as well part of the wall was missing and it was on the ground level. Because of the rain and nature, much of the room was a mere shadow of the former glory; but for Peach it was the powerful magic of Booster that after many years kept the tower standing.

Mario was amazed, the room didn't changed that much, it was essentially the same; but what it got his attention where the dolls that Mallow found. The last time he saw that room was in his previous life and he was trying to save Peach from Booster deranged wedding plan that at the end would had bring a different tragedy to the Mushroom Kingdom.

\- Princess, I have a question. What happened to Bowser? Said Mallow.

\- What do you mean?

\- He seems to be changed over the course of the last 15 years. He is acting strange, as if he was possessed by something.

\- You are right.

\- What? Mallow exclaimed.

\- It is strange to explain, but Bowser got possessed by the mere essence of the universe, by God as it would be called by some. It wasn't meant to be but that mistake has placed a problem among us as it decimated the world, and I do not want to think what else would happen.

\- Princess explain please.

\- Probably you guys didn't felt that we were "out" for over a period of three years, in the timeframe of the world it probably passed around an hour that we were missing, on that hour the access to the Negative Force became widely open to every "magic" user. While some of us we have an affinity for "magic", some users developed a final movement that was eventually named the Final Smash.

\- I am aware that some of us have that movement, not in my case. I'd seen yours in action and is quite powerful.

\- Yes, but it can also kill the person I am trying to heal or protect, that is one reason I rarely use it. That is one reason I rely on my Psych Bomb mostly as it has a wide destruction power and I do not have to worry about any side effects.

\- I understand, but explain me something in that hour where did you guys went?

\- To the Subspace, we were called along other races from other dimensions to see who was going to become the vessel of God. The problem that happened, was that there was a rebellion and everything didn't go as planned.

\- I am all ears. Said the King of Nimbus while listening to Peach.

\- Mario, Luigi may you concede me a moment alone with Mallow please?

Both plumbers left the room as soon as they could, they just sat outside. Peach knew the time with Mallow was going to be short and she was in the need to convince him to join forces in order to stop the Master Core. Mallow was thinking on how much they lose and he was impressed that Peach developed a technology to clone individuals. He asked if it was possible to clone some of the fallen citizens including his parents, but Peach mentioned that she was in the need of a fresh sample otherwise it was going to be impossible to clone anyone.

Mallow wasn't disappointed with the news but he was wondering what solution they could take, that was the moment she called back the plumbers. She ask Mario to show the abilities that he had, the same abilities that were beyond the use of the Negative Force. He asked them to step to the limits of the room and out of nowhere he pulled one door to the Subspace. Mallow was curious as he never saw something as that before.

Mario told him to follow him, they were going to a place where there was shadows and no light. He assured Mallow that they were going to be OK, he was confused as he couldn't imagine a place where there was no light, a place of constant darkness, he imagined what they were talking was as close to being dead. When he entered the door, he felt a cold sensation as well the entire place was cold as cold as he never felt before; he was used to live on the high altitudes of Nimbus Land and he never felt anything towards weather patterns and temperature.

Mallow realized that the Subspace was merely a shadow of their world, mostly a world filled with melancholies. He knew they were on Booster's Tower but it was a space in between _here and another world_ , he was curious and asked Mario; but Mario replied in a tone filled with sorrow that he can't reach the other world at the moment due the lack of dreams that aren't coming from the Kingdom.

That was the moment where the King knew he had to do what he believed it was right, to help his friends regain the peace once and for all. He was wondering if dying would be as equal to be in that place? He was questioning if Mario was feeling some form of sensation due the extreme temperature in the room, it was extremely cold and he was feeling fear. Gently he asked him to pull him back to the "other side" Mario replied that it was going to be one moment before they were going to go back. The plumber walked closely to the King of the Clouds, he was smiling and as he got closer he told Mallow "I saw your face, this is what dying feels like, but there is nothing, no memories, no conscious, no self-perception, is just cold and empty bambino"

As he finished with those words, they teleported back to reality, Mario explained that he could only sustain the Subspace room for around 20 minutes if he wasn't exhausted, overall he could execute more than 20 minutes on his free will, he explained that the room or the door as he enjoyed to call, it was a reflection on his own abilities, he could access them before with a special formula and it was only for around 15 seconds before dying, after being resurrected the door just appeared.

Peach asked Mallow if he wanted to join to go and defeat the Master Core? He didn't hesitate because he saw the power, just a fraction of the powers the plumbers had, he wanted some peace back to the Kingdom, to go back to the surface without fear but overall he was actually scared of what the plumbers had become, they weren't fully alive beings, they were shadows of their former selves, they were just walking dry bones with too much power.


	18. Chapter 18: The Tears of Marrymore

**Chapter Eighteen**

 **The Massacre of Marrymore**

Valentina was one of her kind; she was smart, powerful, skilled in magic and used her body to achieve what she wanted. She wasn't scared of anything because she knew she would prevail, people feared her because of her extreme power and intelligence. She was also a rival of Peach, someone who could easily outdone the princess in magic and skills.

Why we are referring to her in the past? She died as many others, she was killed trying to defend the place she loved the most – Marrymore -. For her, the marriage capital of the world represented hope in the future, there she married in a quickie her beloved Booster after her failed coup to the Nimbus King she just fled down to the surface world.

For a little bit, before the events of the Space Emisary and that moment of calm after the Smithy Gang invasion she had a very peaceful life; her life with Booster was everything she wanted and she adored him because he gave him so peace and tranquility. Those were the good days on the Mushroom Kingdom, those days came to an end with the first wave.

She became a casualty, Booster couldn't ever surpass her death and tried to make things right on his last moment saving the tower and some other citizens. The first wave arrived to Marrymore on the afternoon of the second day, nobody could react to the ambush. Kammy Koopa became the responsible for that assault, she couldn't do too much as the ambush on the chapel killed almost everyone.

Kammy could be incite fear on every soul, she wasn't powerful but her skills in magics and her connection to the negative force was remarkable. She created an explosion from the inside of the chapel, bringing into pieces. Valentina survived the explosion, she and few of the parishioners who were inside; the problem was that the Koopa Troops were waiting for survivors to kill them on a point blanc execution. She reacted quickly and noticed that it was the beginning of the end, she wasn't prepared when the Terra Cota soldiers aimed their pistols towards the other survivors. Everything became a sea of tiny Bullet Bills, she quickly dodged them but the other civilians weren't as fast as her and died after surviving the explosion.

She didn't hesitate and used her Aurora Flash to place the Terra Cota soldiers to sleep, they didn't placed too much resistance. She started to cry when saw the fleet of airships around the sky; she didn't know what to do, everything became so hopeless because she realized Bowser achieved one of his goals.

The entire town of Merrymore was in ruins, she thought she was the sole survivor of the massacre. From the sky she saw something coming down from one of the ships, she didn't opt to hide, it was going to be futile if she tried to oppose some resistance. To her it was to fight or to die, her biggest surprise that the one who descended from the sky was Kammy Koopa herself.

\- You old witch, what is this sacrilege? Exclaimed Valentina.

\- My dear, I am so sorry we are just following orders from the King Supreme. Replied calmly the old hag.

\- Why in the name of the Stars your son had decided to launch this full scale invasion? He has been peaceful since the Smithy Invasion.

\- Our lord Bowser exclaimed that this was the lands of the Koopas and we are just following his commands; he will become the unifier in blood.

Valentina noticed the old witch was being serious, but what it got her attention it was that from the shadow of the witch there were some purple tints. She was curious to know how the old witch was emitting such power and she tried to scan her mind. She found out that she was being under the influence of something else, it wasn't Bowser or the power of something from that world. It was the essence of the universe itself. She was curious and she ask the old witch but Kammy's reply was a void one, she was a mere drone.

The battle started and Kammy quickly overpowered Valentina, the fire that the witch was bursting was too powerful for the Nimbus citizen, she couldn't stand extreme humidity or her abilities would be inactive. She thought about running but she only could dodge the attacks that were coming from the sky.

She didn't know what to do and she was getting exhausted of dodging every attack. At one point she fell on the floor exhausted, not knowing to do. Kammy descended from the sky and started to walk slowly, Valentina was wondering how that incredible heat was coming from a frail body? She knew her time was coming to an end as a last effort she threw her Petal Blast to the old witch and the old one just deflect them.

Kammy started to move her rod, she was reciting an incantation. Valentina was fearing the worse, as she knew the so called spell the hag was going to recite was to enlarge some of the plants and transform them into living beings. She quickly executed her Diamond Saw and turned the landscape into a freezing cauldron.

\- My child, do you think this would stop me? Said the hag with a defying smile.

Valentina didn't react to her words, she just tried to escape again, she knew if she reached the tower, she would be safe. As far as she run, she didn't seem to escape Kammy; the witch was always behind her no matter what. She couldn't continue running and she realized that she was trapped in an illusion, she didn't even went far away and she was still under the rubble of the church.

Everything was on her head; the attack and her escape was just in her head.

\- My child, do you think you could escape? You are one of the preys we are aiming. Said the hag with a big smile.

\- Bitch, you didn't transformed the plants into Piranhas, you just wanted to have fun. Curse you! Exclaimed Valentina while pushing all the ruble away from her.

She realized the magnitude of the massacre, everyone was dead and she only survived by mere will power as the civilians weren't as skillful as her. She saw that in reality everything was worse than the fantasy she was living in for a few moments. Everyone was dead, everything around her was dead, her hopes and dream were extinguished by a mere explosion an ambush around the town.

\- Why? Valentina asked. Then she realized, there was something else that infected the witch. It was a void, an emptiness, the witch became possessed under the influence of a power that she had never seen before. It was almost as looking as the _heart_ of the universe, into the heart of God.

\- Because there is only sorrow. After that the witch snapped her fingers and Valentina became strangled with the fauna. There were plenty of vines covering her and hurting her, she wasn't sure what to do. She was completely immobilized; then she realized her moment was about to come to an end.

She did one more thing, with her last of her strengths she pulled out a Drain Beam, it wasn't strong enough but it did the job, the beam reached Kammy. At the end it was too late for Valentina, the last aspect of the witch technique transformed the vines into piranha plants. She ended up being devoured; but it gave a new opportunity for Kammy as she got freed from the control of the Core.

That's how Valentina's story ended. Peach along with the Plumbers and Mallow were heading down the Booster Tower, she saw some old photos of Booster and Valentina; they seemed to be happy, they had some better times after the Smithy invasion. She couldn't avoid feeling sad as how many lives were lost due the Master Core influence on the world.

When they finally reached the first floor she looked inside and realized how wonderful it was for her to have a second chance, even if it wasn't with the real plumbers at least she had a chance to make things right. She noted that the tower was collapsing slowly as if it was waiting for them to leave.

As they walked out, Peach stopped for a moment to contemplate the Booster's creation. Her suspicion turned to be true, the stronghold started to disintegrate as if it was made of sand. All the dreams, all the battles, the place where a generation of madmen called home faded into oblivion. She was feeling sad as if there was no hope but she saw it as a sign that no matter how powerful you are, dead will come for you no matter what.


	19. Chapter 19: The Graveyard of Star Hill

**Chapter Nineteen**

 **The Invasion: The Graveyard of Star Hill**

Star Hill was an anomaly, it became the gate and the heart of the Mushroom Kingdom as well the world. It became that focal point on why that piece of land prosper after the Gods blessed it to shelter the soul of the world. There were so many stories of the lore on how Star Hill was formed but at the end, the core message was "it had the desires of the people" but also it connected to the Subspace; and, anyone who held the skills to traverse the use of the Subspace was considered an "emissary" regards the origins of their dimensions.

It's not difficult to understand, the Subspace was the realm of the Master Core; it was heaven, the last resting place of the souls and where the essence of the universe could rest. It was a passageway also for the people who could manipulate it, only a few well known around the cosmos and the multiverse such as Smithy, Tabuu, the Hands, R.O.B., Meta-Ridley and also Mallow.

He never realized how powerful he was due the consequence of living in fear. In fact, he inherited the ability from his mother who was also the heart of the Nimbus Land and the Nimbus was laid upon the conferment of the Subspace in which they could act as protectors of the Mushroom Kingdom.

It was on Star Hill that Smithy took advantage of the gap between Dimension and opened the gate that facilitated his invasion; it was Star Hill the point where Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser and Jr. where absorbed into the subspace to fight of becoming God of the Universe.

Mallow used to travel between worlds by accessing Star Hill, from there he could go the world of the surface as well access to Nimbus Land. Peach noticed that he was using a close portal but she wasn't even thinking that it was Star Hill as soon when Mallow directed them. The Hill was completely obliterated, all the wishes where withered, there was no signs of hope around the fields, everything was dead.

Mallow requested them to follow him, he explained that now there were different paths that could lead to an unnecessary dead or be transported someplace else; only one path was the one who could teleport them to Nimbus Land without any problem.

Luigi was feeling uneasy, he never imagined that the effects of the invasion would be a total annihilation of the world, there was no life, there was nothing, just desolation. He was feeling extremely uneasy as he was feeling someone was watching them. Out of nowhere a group of five Pulsars appeared, Mallow seemed to be unfazed to the ambush. "They do that all the time" He exclaimed.

With a quick movement of his wrist, his arms elongated and punched the five Pulsars effortless. All of them shattered to pieces, and he requested to keep walking.

\- As I had become older, my health is becoming a problem as well my speed. Said the King of the clouds in a calm voice.

\- That was amazing, I never imagined you could have that power. Mario exclaimed.

\- It just grew after the dead of my parents. Sorry for interruption Mario but I have a question for the Princess. How did you know where I was?

\- We have a network of military satellite's around the world, at first they were really never used but after the invasion I started to use them to locate other survivors, that's how I found you.

\- Very sneaky Princess, may I ask if there are any other survivors of the Kingdom?

\- Yes, but they emigrated a few years ago; there was a group of rebels who were living on the bottom of Belome Temple as well using the Kero Sewers in order to have access for the water that wasn't tainted. I think they died when they tried to ambush Bowser but I am not so sure as I was mostly hiding with Toad.

\- What happened to that little guy?

\- I killed him. Mario replied as they kept walking.

A moment later, they found themselves on the top of the hill. The place where wishes were born. All of them with the exception of Mallow were surprised, they weren't expecting to find what they found, it was a graveyard. Mallow explained that he little by little gave a final resting place to all the victims he found, it took him ten years; Peach was impressed by the noble act because at the end of the last wave Mallow closed the gates to go to Nimbus Land and no one could escape to the land in the clouds.

The graveyard extended everywhere, as Peach walked she noticed a few names she knew such as Raz and Raini, Bowshi and Yoshi, just to name a few in the list. She was feeling extremely sad, but also relief because she at least knew someone gave a proper burial to hundreds of the victims of the war.

As she was walking, she noticed something she didn't saw before while checking on the graves, she saw a small star, it was a tiny thing, it was laying on the grass. It was alive, the wish was alive, she was happy to see it because it gave her some hope that everything was OK eventually and people were regained hope.

She grabbed the small wish and tried to listened. The voice was faint but it was a girl's voice "I hope we all can be happy again, one day" She tried to focus on who made the wish but the image wasn't clear enough, she saw a small Goomba figure, but that was it.

She was crying to know that there was someone who had some hope in the future, she whispered in the star hoping that her voice was going to be listened.

Mallow ask her to go with the rest on the portal to jump, she was walking slowly as she was feeling tired. Before she could put a foot in the portal, they were ambushed by a band of Punchinellos. Luigi started to feel fear because he knew as the Punchinellos would meet their demise they could materialize a King Bomb-Omb and create an explosion that could kill them all.

Who knew they were on the Hill? Then they saw him, a Yaridovich; the thing was infected by the Core; it wasn't the real, the first one, just a clone or a reconstruction of the prime who got destroyed decades before. All of them knew this could be a big problem on their escape to Nimbus but also an unruly scenario that could jeopardize the survivors of the clouds.

The Yaridovich started to walk slowly to the group, he didn't express any emotions, he was just there. As he got closer to Mario knew something bad could happen but they were surrounded; out of nowhere it started snowing, it was beautiful, it was majestic; he couldn't remember how much he did enjoyed snow after being trapped in a painting when Bowser turned the Mushroom Kingdom Castle into a tesseract.

Luigi noticed that there was something odd about the storm; it was the middle of summer; he noticed that the storm was created by Mallow. Mallow was in a trance; he was there looking at the sky while a mist was surrounding him. Luigi wasn't sure what was happening because he never interacted with the King of Nimbus that much in the past.

Peach noticed the same aspect as Luigi; she noticed how powerful Mallow was, and that he became a force to be feared by. The snow turned into a storm; the temperature dropped below zero in almost an instant, Mario quickly tried to open a door and hid for a moment with the others on the subspace of the subcon's but he didn't have the time to form the door. Peach started to move her hands as she was doing a dance; Mario realized that the blizzard was being blocked from him, Peach and Luigi. There was also no sound around them, he understood that was an evolved form of Peach Mute attach; it became incredibly powerful to negate an event happening around them.

Mario was enchanted, he always loved how Peach special skills manifested; she danced, and when she danced it was as if the world stopped. Mallow attack ended up freezing to dead the enemies, they became solid ice structures; that when he started to move and touch them they broke into tiny pieces.

Mallow didn't mention anything, he waived at them to go in the portal, everyone else entered first. He, before being teleported, did a quick punch and destroyed the star that connected to Nimbus Land. He thought about having to check the area of the other 4 portals that he scattered around the Kingdom.


	20. Chapter 20: The Castle in the Sky

**Chapter 20**

 **The Invasion: The Castle in the Sky**

Nimbus Land had a development after Mallow closed the borders with the Mushroom Kingdom; it was another world from where she remembered. There where buildings, cars everywhere, citizens beyond the little village she saw almost 30 years before; she realized some of the younger citizens never had contact with the lower realm as they were forbidden to go below.

Little kids where looking at the strangers who looked as clouds; they were fascinated by the physiology and how they looked, they had never seen creatures as them; but they didn't go near them, they fear them. Mallow promised the Princess and the Plumbers a tour around the city later on the day, as he felt obligated as he invited them in order to explain how the terrain changed on the castle grounds and because he realized also, even if they were tracking him they had no place to rest if they need it.

Mallow was aware that much of the towns where deserted, a few of them were bastions of the Koopa Empire that was slowly falling and some others became cities of the monsters. Also he was going to offer a solution, a pathway to the subspace. He was never honest with Peach when they were younger, he always knew about the subspace and how they were transported to that world.  
Peach was aware they were sucked in via Star Hill, but she never realized that the reason they ended up there on the subspace it wasn't because of God himself but because of Mallow. The Nimbus Royal Family where one of the eldest families of the Kingdom, they not only protected the planet but also they were one of the many guardians of different realities that protected the gates of the subspace.

The Kingdom of the Sky was gorgeous beyond imagination, a paradise on a realm filled by destruction and sorrow; she saw how happy everyone was and how everybody by their glares considered them as freaks. She and the Plumbers followed Mallow to a stop in which they were greeted by a driver.

They went in and drove to the palace, the ride was silent. She wanted to explore the city a little bit, to know how much the country of the clouds expanded; she was watching everything around her; she was looking at the people on the streets, she was looking at Mario and Luigi as they were happy. Mallow on the other hand seemed to be quiet.

The castle was splendid, it was different from she remembered, the palace got reconstructed after the invasion. It became smaller but it was just a new version of the old purple one, same gothic towers and beautiful decorated on the landscape. Mallow asked them to follow him, and explained they were going to go to the guest premises, he let Mario and Luigi to relax but ask the Princess to accompany him for tea before she was escorted to her premises.

The inside of the castle was as beautiful as she remembered, perfectly pristine and decorated; statues and busts everywhere, paintings of ancient times and chandeliers. She always enjoyed the few times she visited Nimbus Land but her bigger surprise came when Mallow took her to the back gardens. They were immense and had tropical plants that she never saw before.

\- Mallow, this is beautiful. I never imagined there could be such beauty here.

\- I started to create this oasis after the Bowser invasion.

\- I can understand; Mallow I do apologize this invasion was my fault. I made a mistake that lead to this and Bowser followed us.

\- Princess, hold on a moment; we really need to talk; please take a sit. This situation is more complex than you imagined after all these years. We have some really nice mint tea that is on the way.

The server came with two very beautiful pristine, crystal clear cups and as soon she came she left.

\- Go ahead Princess; please continue.

\- Mallow this is all my fault.

\- No, it's not.

\- Why? Why you say that? She was confused.

\- The reason you have to understand; the Smithy Gang invasion wasn't random; it wasn't a random invasion. They came here from the subspace, from a region that machines were the dominating species and it was my parents fault.

\- King, explain yourself.

\- Don't talk this to the Plumbers, I will explain you the reason of this. 45 years ago, before you guys came from the other world, there was a war on the Subspace. Three species where trying to gain control of one of the territories, but to make it short the Exxor's or better known as the Smithy Gang were the dominants on the conflict and won.

My parents where the first royal family in which they unified the Sky Kingdom into what later became the Mushroom Kingdom, and you essentially annexed us and we became the guardians of the skies and the world as many of you didn't had access to the Negative Force.

Princess, you are also from an invasive species. Humanity is not far behind from the Exxor's on the first era, we knew you were part of an exploration crew who came here for the resource for your dying planet. Yet we decided to help you into the unification.

Now in this world there was a war also, between us and the Koopas; they were trying to snatch the Mushroom people, back then before you experimented on them to create a sentient race of obedient slaves, because that's what they are; we helped you to unify the Kingdom in the Mushroom Wars.

Memory is quite of a bitch isn't? I was young, pretty young but I remember and the logs on the libraries here were preserved. Now here is the thing, when I was around 2 years old my skills started to develop, far beyond my parents I had a full access to the elements but also to the Negative Force; more than anyone else on this world.

You guys seemed to have some control but it wasn't perfect, your bodies weren't born to hold that power as some of us did, but you three seemed with time master some abilities and they develop. You know the reason I ended up with my grandpa?

\- No King? What was it?

\- There is a gate, the gate is on the basement. Located where the Birdo's egg was placed by Valentina, she used the egg to hide the gate as she considered ugly from what some of the guards told me; lucky her she didn't knew what was that because the power of that gate bring destruction to the world.

When I was two I got called by the gate and since my skills weren't proper to control the power and in a child's curiosity I broke it. The explosion teleported me to Tadpole Pond where grandpa found me but also it brings Smithy to our world.

Now this is the part you need to pay attention. Remember a moment ago I mentioned the three races at war?

\- Yes, I do.

\- Those were the elder gods or the Master Core and his emissaries', the R.O.B.s and the Exxor's. When you guys among others were transported to the subspace it wasn't because an act of God it was because God was being defeated and his body, his essence was being on the verge of destruction and thus the universe collapsing.

It became a noble idea from the Master Core but also it was an act of desperation because Smithy himself almost destroyed everything; and then it's where I come in, I pulled Smithy here and the life of God was sparred but it was the beginning of the end. Many years later, when he knew he was dying and the R.O.B.B.s tried to usurp the power and that's when God called all of you through the different gates and now God is dying and corrupted.

\- So, all this mess started because of you? I've been fucking blaming myself for years!

\- I am not going to apologize, because I want to remind you one thing Princess from the other world. You planted the seed on Bowser's soul, if it wasn't for your deception and lust for conquer, the outcome even if the Core would had possessed Bowser under different circumstances could be different.

Peach stayed quiet, she realized it was the fault of both; faults that came under different scenarios but at the end reflected one common path – the downfall of the Mushroom Kingdom -, both looked silent at each other because they realized their own faults.

\- King, you said you were going to show us the gates of the Keep as well the grounds of the Kingdom's Castle? I haven't had the chance to explore fully beyond the satellites as my technology is outdated.

\- Yes, but first, are you done with your tea?

\- Yes.

\- Please follow me, we are going to walk to a small clearance not far away from here, we will have a good view of the top of the Mushroom Kingdom castle.

Both left the seats and started to walk, a small oasis inside the castle grounds with a hole in the clouds gave a perfect view on the world of the land. Peach was fascinated because she never saw something as that before, it was a small gap that Mallow could control to see the world of below and project what he wanted to see that was on the surface but not on the grounds.

Peach saw that the Mushroom Castle was completely different, it was ruins of what it was, it looked as much as when Bowser originally occupied it. There were bones laying around, she thought about some of them being the resistance who tried to fight and died. She didn't found anything they could exploit to gain access.

She saw that at the end the fight was going to be lost, they need it to gain access. She saw the world from a perspective that never imagined and realized she was lucky that the Nimbus never decided to invade the Kingdom as they had the advantage on the magics but not the strength within their bodies.

After a moment of silence; they heard some screams coming from inside the palace. Mallow quickly ran as fast as he could, leaving behind Peach. At the moment she arrived to the palace, to her surprise she noted Bowser Jr. was in, he was dominated by the brothers. When he saw that the Princess was also there, he said with a big smile on his face "I heard you are trying to take down what possessed my father? I can help you if you let me go"

 **END OF PART TWO**


	21. Chapter 21: Fun Times in Babylon

**Chapter 21**

 **Fun time in Babylon**

After a few hours, Mallow and the Princess where both sitting with Jr inside of one of the dungeons in the basement. The first aspect they said to Jr. was if he tried something shady the floor would collapse and send him to the grounds below instantly killing him. Jr. agreed not to do or say anything but rather be honest with them.

Jr. was born around 10 years after the Princess arrived from the other world, for a long time he thought Peach was his mother but after a visit to Delphino Island he realized that his mother was actually someone close to his father but he never had the chance to develop a relationship with. He always remembered her as someone who enjoyed playing on ice but also using it as a magic element to create hostile environments for the enemies.

\- King of the clouds, you didn't kill my mother. She was absorbed by the Core, as many others.

\- Wait, you are Wendy's son?! Peach exclaimed with surprise. How's that even possible? How long did you know?

\- About a year later after my attack on Delphino. She never tried to get close to me, she mistreated me even if I ask her many times on why, why she was such a hard cold bitch? She only replied she was dedicated to Mr. Bowser and that was it.

\- Do you know the surroundings of the conception?

\- My father raped her; that is the reason. Then he just claimed me and swore to kill her if she said something to me. I was an accidental heir.

\- How did you know that? Mallow asked.

\- Grandma Kammy told me; she was in fact who made my father hold the secret and we said to the rest of the court that you were my mother. I believed that lie for quite a long time which is one of the reasons I blamed on you, of abandoning me.

\- I would never do that my own child.

There was a moment of silence and Jr. started to speak again; he started to mention how times where different when they were trying to conquer the castle and how is father was trying to impress Peach but those days were over; he then started to talk about that time all of them were transported to the subspace.

The memories of everyone in the Subspace where distorted but Jr. seemed to hold everything as he remembered everything.

The first memory of Jr. came landing in a stadium that was floating, there he knew he wasn't in the Mushroom Kingdom anymore; the last that he remembered it was being teleported and suddenly appeared in the middle of an arena. The stadium was metallic in nature, everything was grey with the exception of the platform, steps and windows. The place was empty, there was nobody at that moment, but as soon he tried to walk out suddenly he heard some cheers and there were creatures sitting on the podium.

He was confused. as he couldn't had understood where he was; then out of nowhere a small robot appeared out of nowhere. The robot was wearing a green vest, it looked human much as the Plumbers and the princess but his eyes were red as fire. The small robot went closer and introduced himself as Primid, one of the thousands from the workers' line but also personal servants of the R.O.B.B. class.

Jr. tried to process what was happening but he thought about asking questions later as he was trying to understand the scenario where he was.

\- You are in the Stadium, welcome heir of the Koopas. We are a race of machine who control the elements of time and space, we essentially guardian of the multiverse, there is no us in another universe, we exist as one. Also you were chosen by God as one of the many vessels as he is dying. Also before we let you go any further you need to pass and conquer the first trial. Defeat Petey. Said the mechanical being with a somber voice.

\- Who is Petey? Jr. Asked

\- You will see. Said the Primid before teleporting away.

A few seconds later, a tremor occurred and the blue lights that surrounded the arena turned red; an overly sized, about 15 feet Piranha Plant wearing a bathing suit and spitting fire, while being contained on a net full of laser; the arena started to levitate making it even further above the ground level. That was the moment Junior realized he wasn't on the Mushroom Kingdom, the views where spectacular and he thought he was in the afterlife but the voice from the robot appeared again.

\- The rules are simple if you defeat Petey you may move forward, if you can't defeat Petey you will be erased from existence. Junior knew it wasn't a joke, but he was in the need to win in order to find his father that was sucked before him, almost a day before him.

Eventually Junior defeated the Piranha and found out that the time in the Subspace was faster than the one in the Kingdom; six hours in the real world it was almost 3 years in the Subspace. Impossible to think but it was real, Bowser was almost absent for three years and he was extremely happy to see his son.

Bowser explained that him that the fight against Petey was a test to know if he was ready to join him and an ancient sorcerer named Gannondorf in the conquest of the Subspace and tackle the power of God, the essence of the Universe.

\- Wait Jr. You said that before us we were transferred Bowser already knew that he was in the realm of God?

\- Yes, daddy knew.

\- So it wasn't an accident that he attained the power of the Core; the Core could had prevented it but he was dying, he couldn't do too much before Bowser plan came to fruition. This put in perspective the experience, it wasn't an accident and it wasn't a tournament to see the heir of God but it was God calling for help to the different beings of the multiverse. Exclaimed Peach.

\- Yes, princess; the tournament was an idea of Gannondorf to trick other people who had access or the potential to the Negative Force in order to open the realm of God who was being corrupted as he couldn't find a new host. He was essentially holding us after the rebellion of the R.O. .

\- It wasn't an accident, we caused the destruction of the world. Said Peach within tears.

\- Princess, we can revert this but it is going to be a big problem. Replied Jr. The only problem is, to kill the Core we need to transport it to the Subspace and he will die there, otherwise within this plane of existence he will only keep devouring the worlds until there is nothing.

\- The idea of nothingness is extremely chilling, knowing that there is nothing there to exist. Said Mallow.

\- I know King of the Clouds; that is the end of the multiverse; being devoured by a cold entropy in which there is nothing and we cease to exist as us.

They all looked at each other and then Mallow mentioned that it shouldn't be an inconvenience to open the portal and manipulate it in order to suck it back in to the Subspace, the only problem was that opening to teleport the Core's essence would be ceasing his own existence. Peach looked at him in order to find another solution; he explain that it was OK with him, that the situation they were, was partially his fault.

Bowser Jr. intervened and explained that no blood was necessarily to be shed as he could open the gate by using his genetics as a catalyst. Mallow was quite puzzled because he didn't saw the door being used towards some sort of soul resonance.

\- Let me explain. Said Jr. with his high pitch voice.

\- Go ahead young prince.

\- The Koopas had a similar gate, we kept some of the technology as the Princess should know by now because of her labor of espionage. Aka the Mario Maker to name a few. In between of all the technology we kept from the Smithy Gang we kept remains of Exxor. Exxor itself was another type of gate similar as the ancient one they had on the Cloud Kingdom.

\- Please continue. Said Mallow.

\- Gates as this one and Exxor react to genetic codes and also soul resonance between family members; one reason is the similarity the members share not only on their skills if they are connected to the Negative Force or if they program the gates in order to use them as their personal devices. While we were sucked on this one and through this only, we also have one of our own within the old Bowser Keep if we can open that one we can suck my father in.

\- When do you say if we can open it? Luigi asked.

\- The technology wasn't probably tested, we only went back to the Subspace once after the invasion as my father wanted to retrieved the core's part and his emissary's corpse.

\- So your father went to pick up the corpse of Tabuu and the Hands? The princess asked.

\- Yes, he went to complete the rest of his body and right now he is incredible dangerous, not only because he has access to my father's abilities but also because he is in his perfect form.

\- Do you think it would be an issue if we infiltrate in the old Keep? Mario asked.

\- No; it has been abandoned for such a long time that it shouldn't be an issue to go there and retrieve what we need. Our only problem, well… two problems. One of them will be going near the Core without getting killed and the second involves on the spatial dilation that we will have when we reach the subspace.

\- Explain please. Said Luigi.

\- Even with this door, which is the one we all got sucked in, and with the Exxor type technology, when we reach the pathway before the Subspace, it seems the space sorts who goes first and who goes second; also there is no way to know where are we going to be dropped. So we have to be incredible careful.

\- Do you have any coordinates to where we can meet in case the worse happens? Peach ask.

\- If that world hasn't changed, we will all meet in the Midair Stadium as is easy to access. We all going to carry communication devices and in case we get on different positions we will be able to at least describe our location to the others. Just as an FYI, do not engage alone the Master Core, as soon you are in the Subspace, search for a safe spot and wait signal of the others. Junior Mentioned with an eerie tone before all of them took a few days to rest and go to the old Bowser's Keep.


	22. Chapter 22: The Night Before

**Chapter 22**

 **The Night Before**

Some people said "Life is a stage and death is the epilogue" for Mario and Luigi reality was something far away from other people perception. As soon they placed a foot in the Mushroom Kingdom, their lives changed forever. The moment they were in the Kingdom, both of them felt something strange in their bodies, the Negative Force empowered them.

The process was rather painful and it varied from people to people, some people as Peach didn't felt anything until an ability appeared, the first one from Peach became levitation but for Mario a fire engulfed him and felt he was burning from the inside; Luigi had a different effect, he faded from existence and then had a minor reaction to fire much as his brother.

Both siblings had a similar set of powers but at the end there were some major differences, Luigi could control time and space to his will on a limited area and Mario could travel between dimensions as well teleport through the use of doors.

The siblings became well known among the different lands of the unknown world, but the siblings weren't the only ones. A co-worker from them landed in Sarasaland and she became an allied who later betrayed them before the war started. Mario himself traveled to Sarasaland to help Daisy in the defeat of Wario and Tatanga; the latter being the only other being from another planet such as the plumbers and the Princesses'.

Tatanga interdimensional and interplanetary travel technology became essential into improving the defenses of the different allied Kingdoms, but what nobody knew was that Tatanga was only a herald, the herald of a vast galactic empire that conquered different planes of the multiverse, that empire that was ruled by the Shroob Sisters.

Wario on certain occasions became some form of allied and antihero, almost opposing Mario on every level but at the same time assisting him when a bigger threat was there. The times in Sarasaland where problematic, mostly due the interferences of Tatanga to set a precedent for the Shroob invasion; even if he didn't succeed after being annihilated by Mario he set the coordinates for the new world.

Mario found out on his journey that is DNA was unstable, he could absorb properties of vegetables and flowers from the land of Daisy and transform into a mutated version. They weren't his own powers but he used those _power ups_ as an advantage on his many fights.

Luigi on the other side of the story, became erratic. His abilities evolved far away from his control, within his skills of controlling time and space, he found out he could see "shadow" of the past, ghosts in other words. Boo's weren't the only thing he could see, he could see and interact with the spirits of the dead.

He started to travel around the Kingdom's for some time, cleansing the houses that where possessed and solving crimes. After his untimely death, he couldn't resurrect fully on specific areas certain beings, but he could have made them take possession of their bodies and give the message they need.

Time after time, they defeated Bowser and their minions, time after time it was always the same, until that day where they died and then the world ended for them. Beyond their adventures, there were plenty of other selves trapped in the Mario Maker. All of them living different lives, all of them trying to be replicated as the original ones in order to bring the champions back.

Peach blamed herself so many times, because of her actions; she was only following orders from her superiors, until she stopped receiving them and noticed they were stranded in a place that wasn't home and she started to panicking. She wasn't a ruler, she was a biologist and she was also a geneticist. She was an academic who ended in a foreign land only because she couldn't say no to the idea of an adventure; and that was her mistake.

She never expected to find an advance set of innovative technologies on the other world; but then, after the tragedy, the many years trapped in an underground bunker, barely leaving to search for food in the outside world, seeing Mario, seeing her beloved dying over and over in the Maker she became detached, she started to sabotaging her own experiment after seeing the clones getting killed over and over.

An idea crossed through her head, she activated two clones and let them work together; she remembered that Mario mentioned that his DNA was unstable towards the flora and fauna from Sarasaland, she made some modifications to some of the holograms in order to trigger a change and she placed the clones inside a surreal world that looked as a theater play.

There were 8 stages, all of them represented a tragedy. All of them had a fallen king, kings who mimicked the human speech but in reality where mere holograms. She became obsessed for many years with her side project, she kept those clones alive as much as she could, because she was being entertained while using other clones at the same time to wake the latent potential of her fallen lover.

Over time she lost any respect for life, everyone was a mere peon or someone who could be replaced, but she was happy to have Mario back in her life albeit she was having doubts of going and defeat the Master Core. In her beliefs it was a sacrilege to fight against the will of God but that doesn't stop her for creating the Mario Maker and the clone project.

Jr. was feeling at peace; he was looking the world down below from the castle in the sky. His memories where the only thing he had, his family was dead and there was nobody else, he lived for a while under the pity and grace of his former subordinates who escaped dead. There was nobody he could call father anymore.

Every single person he loved and cared where consumed by the core, he could had been consumed also but he escaped the influx, probably because he shared the blood of his father? He wasn't sure, because his grandma also got sparred from the influx on a long term. He was thinking what they could do when they arrived to the Subspace, when they arrived? He wasn't sure how to defeat it.

Nobody really survived the trials placed by God himself, he didn't kill anyone but rather send them back to their proper dimensions. He remembered Sonic, Link, Gannon, Wario, Kirby, Meta Knight, he remembered all of them, he felt some fascination for Samus and Zelda as he never saw two individuals so different but so powerful one with magic and the other one enhanced with bio-technology.

He always felt envious about Mario because he had Peach, and Luigi had food, a lot of food as he was lonely much of the times. He felt sad, probably the lights of the stars that he could see from the window. What was beautiful, the Nimbus Kingdom was on a point where the cosmos could be seen as there was no luminesce contamination.

It was such a beautiful place, far away from everything, far away from the destruction yet on his soul he felt guilty of the actions they took. He understood that on a long term it wasn't his fault, but rather his father's obsession with the Princess from the other world. He felt peace and he knew he was ready to pick up the Exxor technology and send his father remains to the other world, but they need a plan to get closer to the Core with him killing them.

Then he thought "we can get close without him even noticing, just to charge the technology near him and when is ready, we all be transported to the other world in which they could put an end to the Core and give reality a little bit of peace. He knew they weren't anymore minions on the castle and within his grandmother dead there was no worries to bring someone he adored.


	23. Chapter 23: Interludio

**Chapter 23**

 **Interludio**

The old keep was in ruins, it seemed after the Core lost his reasoning to conquer, he forgot about what was behind. After his collapse started, he left behind the technology that Bowser help to build. They walked down the abandoned aisles until they reach the basement, there they found a small replica of Exxor's mouth. Jr. looked at it with such much sadness and mentioned to the Princess and the Plumbers that it was time to go to the wasteland that was the Mushroom Kingdom.

Mario was hesitant about the journey they were going to take, as well the purpose of his creation through the maker? He knew that Peach was feeling guilty about the original dying because of her fault, because she started the war. He was trying to tie to lose clues towards the Space Emissary in which the Core ended possessing Bowser.

His own existence was made to fight; since his template enlisted himself to travel to the other world. Funny thing for him was trying to remember the _other world_ , the world where his prime came from and he could barely remember the scents and the sounds, the images of Brooklyn or anything.

He was lost, lost as he could be, following two individuals who were seeking some form of redemption. They were walking back on the forests that were the Mushroom Ways. He realized that he never went there before, it was the first that he was walking the forest that led to his house and to the Keep of Bowser but also to the Kingdom.

\- Princess, we need to make a detour, I need to see my old hut. Mario exclaimed.

Peach was happy to hear that he was asking something the original one would request. She didn't hesitate and since they weren't far away, the group decided to go to the residence the Plumbers once had. There was no life around the forest anymore, there was desolation besides the trees as well some spirits roaming around what was once a fertile place.

The "Pipe House" was standing still, just covered in weed and rust. Mario and Luigi ask Peach and Jr. to wait outside, they also request to call Mallow and tell him that they were going to be arriving at the Mushroom Palace a few hours later. There wasn't nothing Mallow could do except watch but he made them promise to be in contact with before going to the other world.

There was a feeling on Mario's chest, as well Luigi. They were looking for some personal items left from their previous life. Mario was looking for a photo and Luigi was trying to access the secret basement where he kept information about his diaries towards his encounters with the _paranormal_ but also his set of abilities that would let him control spirits and summon them.

The brothers over the years hid some of their abilities as they were fearing persecution from Peach, as they developed a set of abilities that were beyond the powers of everyone else. Luigi became a prime example of someone who could manipulate time over the years after gaining his Final Smash but Mario turned to be the most powerful one within his access to the Subscon Zone.

Luigi immediately faded as soon as they went inside the house, he went to the secret basement that kept hidden from his brother. The basement of the occult, where he kept his prizes, the trophies he stole from the dead.

All the paintings of the 23 ghosts where hidden below the tiny humble hut, and they were intact. Luigi suspected that the entities protected the hut from any of the invader forces. "Everyone, if you can still hear me, thank you. Sorry for vanishing for so many years but you see I died too, well the original one died I just took his essence thanks to the Princess and became the new Luigi. Thank you for protecting our home" Said Luigi to the portrait ghosts and then he went back to the main floor.

Mario found what he wanted, it was a small photo that they took before Geno went back to the Star Hill. He smiled, because that was a moment where he was happy and he wanted to show that photo to the Princess. Peach wasn't thrilled to see that photo as she felt guilty, but she faked the smile and placed the photo on her backpack. He saw her feeling remorseful but he was hoping to reach some of her humanity and let her be at peace with herself and the others.

Knowing that they were living in a wasteland made her uncomfortable but walking to the last destination before they set everything up, it gave her peace. They knew they weren't going to return alive, they knew it was the end-game. They didn't have anything else to lose and the Mushroom Kingdom would be back to be the land it was. Peach knew it was the end of her experiment as well the end of everything.

They arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom, they haven't been there since they left. It was covered in ruins, there was no one left and the few who stayed they died in a horrible way. There were no dry bones walking, there was no life anymore, they just kept walking.

The bones that contained the Core were walking towards them. They started walking outside the castle, Jr. activated the Exxor-like machine and suddenly the world changed into a purple mist; they didn't had time react as they found themselves in the other world in the world that was ruled once under the Subspace Emissary.


	24. Chapter 24: Synthesized Galaxy

**Chapter 24**

 **Synthesized Galaxy**

This is the beginning of the end; the universe didn't collapse but the end of the story just far away within the memories of the four individuals who travelled to the Subspace. They were the essence brought by the previous universe to end the chaos they caused; it was the end of the experiment. They all landed in the end of the universe, the verge of time was collapsing, they didn't land where they planned, instead they arrived on the verge of where the dimensions split, it was a place called the Final Destination, a place where death herself was embraced but also where time connected.

It was beautiful, it was sad, it was chaotic, and then they were there standing in a platform, they were observing the edge of time and they realized the universe as well the different realities where going to collapse anytime soon. Out of nowhere the Dry Bones of Bowser materialized and he threw all the travelers to the verge of time. All of them to different dimensions that connected to the Subspace.

Mario was the first one to wake up, he found himself in the Gateway Galaxy. He was confused on how he ended up there, he saw deep in the horizon himself traveling in some form of planet or asteroid. It was his starship, the memories came and he saw that moment where he was trying to travel to the end of the universe and close the event horizon that almost destroyed time and killed thousands of the Lumas.

He was trying desperate to communicate with the others but there was no signal, then he realized he was alone, alone as the many times he was in the fake labyrinth where the Princess resurrected them.

\- I've never been alone. He said to himself while watching the void.

The starship was leaving his horizon and he understood another aspect, you can't change the past even if you are given the option to go back. Mario started to walk around and when he noticed there was nobody there he sat down and looked into the firmament. He wondered if there was a way to go back?

He realized he wasn't alone anymore, there was a cold sensation everywhere and he saw standing behind him the Frozen King. He jumped as far as he could but the Frozen King was standing there in the same place, without even moving, then Mario tried to approach and realized the King was a mere shadow of the past. Then the worse happened and the King exploded sending Mario a few feet away.

Mario was trying to understand what was happening and then he realized, the Frozen King wasn't a shadow of the past he just changed forms, he couldn't remember him doing that but now the Frozen King looked as a shadow version of him. Mario started to run against a tree in order to find shelter because after the explosion he wasn't fully recovered enough to confront him.

The Frozen King focused his left hand and with a slight movement he turned into ice everything on his surroundings. Mario was fearing for his life again, because he couldn't access any of his abilities. Luigi was worried about everyone else, because he ended up in the mansion of the Dead Artist and it was surrounded by the ghosts.

It was madness for Luigi because he couldn't understand where he was until he saw himself coming from the foyer and he knew he had to hide to avoid any paradoxes. He didn't knew how was going to survive inside a place that technically anything could kill him and his only idea was to keep the distance and let everything follow the natural path.

It was a fearful experience for Mario, no matter where he ran the Frozen King was following him and the planetoid wasn't that big to hide safely. He remembered when he traveled, when the universe was "reset", he was wondering why it didn't happened again? He wanted so badly to see Rosalina and ask her for help, but she faded out into another side of the universe or someplace else.

He missed her, he loved her daughter more than anything else and she was gone, he knew his mistake couldn't protect her and protect Peach the first time and after the timeline was reset he couldn't do it again. Too many bad memories on the Mushroom Kingdom, he regret it going there with his sibling as no one else wanted to venture. He hated obeying order and finding his demise, it wasn't his demise, but still he remembered the pain of dying.

Magic for him was such a complex item to understand, he couldn't grasp it, he couldn't understand why he mutated and the Negative Force embraced him? It was the inclusion of the concepts he couldn't understood, he wondered if it was God himself who selected the people who had access? Or if anyone in the multiverse who were born within certain conditions could have the access?

His head as his body was hurting, he didn't knew what to do as his skills weren't working. He wondered again if it was because of the time dilation, in which he was in a point of life where he wasn't at peace with himself? Or he didn't felt the rage when he killed Toad as he had to protect the Princess? He was helpless.

He rose his head and watched the Universe; he realized it was the first time outside the Kingdom completely, he was amazed by the beauty of the cosmos, by what it was and what it will be. Then he stopped fearing death.

That precious moment where he embraced his existence became the ultimate aspect of his life beyond his resurrection, beyond his skills, beyond the way, beyond time itself. He realized that it was his time to face his fears and then his fire came back to him. When he saw the Frozen King, he saw an entity that it was made entirely of ice, just frozen water.

He knew he couldn't defeat it by any proper mean with his fire, so he thought about vaporizing him. He knew his Final Smash was the answer but he had to be close to the King to make it effective, as the King took his form he knew he could jump or levitate outside his range and he only had one moment.

His body got engulfed in flames, he was feeling the heat of a supernova on his body, he was going to burst into intergalactic dust, but he need it a chance, one chance to live and not to die on the past, he didn't want to die again, he wanted to live. He just run as fast as he could and when he was close enough to the King he unleashed his flames over him, the King couldn't escape and screamed agony before being obliterated outside of existence.

Mario was happy, extremely happy but also he was in pain. He was wondering how much the Subspace plane had left before destruction? He was sitting there looking at the sun from that collapsing galaxy he once traveled in his other life. Wondering if he would be able to do it again? To explore the cosmos and be reunited with his daughter and the Lumas.

He wanted to be happy, he wasn't even happy for a long time, he just wanted to be happy and never to take the life of another living being ever again.


	25. Chapter 25: Luigi Humming

**Chapter 25**

 **Luigi Humming**

He couldn't have understood how he ended there in the mansion, but he assumed the Core sent them to face their own fears, as the fears he was expecting to destroy each one of them. He realized that he was on that point where he started to hunt ghosts and his skills towards time manipulation, necromancy and channeling the dead.

He found a way to avoid his past self by hiding next to a table stand and then could go downstairs and open the door beyond the foyer to find the clairvoyant room. He noticed that the spirits didn't attacked him, or Shivers as he walked the aisles down Luigi, he wondered it was because his past self was trying to haunt answers to the mansion's murders and his present self wasn't to be intended to be there? Or maybe because he died and they didn't see as a menace from the world of the living.

A few moments later he reached the room with Madame Clairvoyant, he was expecting her to have some of the answers he was looking and to his surprise she was expecting him. He was happy to see an ally, who could offer some form of explanation.

\- You shouldn't be here yet; you are not the same one I am expecting. You come beyond time and space, more than 49 days in the future. Yet, you are friend.

\- I am, my abilities to see ghost started here; you were one of my first friends here in the Kingdom, while I rather not say too much you already know the outcomes but you have a limit.

\- I do, but now I am seeing through you, beyond my 49 days' mark and this is remarkable; Luigi, beyond your brother, you are remarkable, you have a power to make everyone tremble and yet you haven't discovered yet at this moment of time but also you never realized your potential before you met death, just like us.

\- I do not know what to do Madame, I was sent here without knowing why? We just were sent from the Final Destination, the point where there is no time but everything connects together.

\- Maybe there is no answer on why you were sent here Luigi, some things happen out of randomness but you can learn from everything even if is good or bad.

\- Explain yourself Madame? A loud explosion was heard outside the room.

\- It seems your younger self stopped Chauncey already, that little brat was always annoying and her mother was worse. Life and death are process of learning Luigi, to grow as a person, you are witnessing the end of the universe and yet you are here. You learned that there is no fear between life and dead, they are just opposite extremes of being true to yourself.

\- I understand Madame.

\- I can see a new outcome, two of them.

\- Speak Madame.

\- One, you will save your brother here and I know how to guide you now, even if here will be for a short moment. I am glad to see the outcome of your journey; I do not want to tell you too much Luigi because the future is never perfect. Let me tell you one thing, the end of the universe, the Final Destination, that dimension you are all sitting is the hearth of the Core.

\- May you explain?

\- Where you guys landed, outside time and space, the body of the Cory, the dimension he can control, the point, the gate in time. Now is time for you to go. Clairvoya waved her hands and opened a portal that sucked Luigi outside the mansion and send him to the outside grounds.

She was sitting there patiently, smiling that she knew she did a great good, and that the future for the world and the universe was in great place. She hoped for forgiveness, she wanted to be free from the mansion and maybe live again. The Luigi she was waiting for arrived, she only said to him "welcome, I been expecting you"

Outside Luigi was sitting peacefully and quiet, he was watching the lights going on the different room and remembering when in his previous life he was there, but he was witnessing one of his late adventures on the Kingdom, from the distance. He wanted to go back and interfere with the past but he didn't know the consequences on a long term of doing it for a second time.

He closed his eyes and just let himself lay on the grounds of Boo Forest, he knew there weren't ghosts outside the premises because King Boo dragged all of them inside the mansion, it was such a peaceful area without any ghost, he felt he could fall asleep on the grounds and not to worry about anything, but he wanted to pick on what his other self was doing.

As he started to walk down the house, he had a sneak peek on the backyard. There he saw Spooky resting on his little dog house; a few moments later, his other self-appeared from the backyard door and tried to approach Spooky's house, the dog starting to chase him and he went back inside; the same scenario repeated a couple of times until a Mr. Bones rose from the ground and past Luigi gave it to Spooky, dragging the dog to the Poltergust within a few tries.

After the dog was captured, Luigi went to the hill with the tombstone, there he got dragged into the shadow dimension where Bogmire used to reside. Luigi from the other time, jumped over the wall and walked to the tombstone, there he realized what he wanted to know when he was exploring the house; he never had the chance to read it. He started to cry after he noticed that was the tomb of Orville and Henry.

He never knew that the twins final resting was in the backyard, and that their parents' bedroom lead to the backyard. He felt that Neville and Lydia were watching the backyard all the time, he could sense their presence still lingering in the house even after they were already turned into paints. As he felt his time was coming to an end in the past, he was being transported to the Final Destination, he started to hum because he knows even after death, there was love left behind, he knew he had to give everything in order to fight for a better future.


	26. Chapter 26: Bonuses Under a Starry Night

**Chapter 26**

 **Bonuses Under a Starry Night**

"Princess" Said Mario.

"Yes?" Replied Peach.

"What would you think the future will come in this Kingdom?"

"I do not know. Hey! Had you heard from your brother?"

"No since a few days ago, he said he was going to the Evershade Valley to do follow up of the Dark Moon"

"I am still surprised that the Boo King dared to created such a menace beyond Bowser's control"

"It will be OK Princess; peace has been a delight between everyone; the idea of no wars in the future and having trades with different Kingdoms is just something I never imagined"

A moment of silence.

"Mario do you ever regret of coming to this world?"

"Sometimes, I miss New York a lot, but I never imagined in a thousand years Peach; you know, I fall in love with you when we first met"

"Do you remember?"

"Luigi and I we were assigned to act as your escorts. You thought I was quite cute, even if I am short and chubby"

"Some girls' dreams of a prince, some others we like bears"

"You are quite cute as always" He giggled.

"You are as charming as ever"

They kissed under the starry hill.

"I wish this moment would last forever Mario"

"Princess, it will, you had given me a reason to fight. You are that reason and I want to be with you until my dying day"

"You are silly" Both kissed. It was a magical moment, as the stars where giving light to their hopes and dreams.

"Mario, I fear that one day we will not be able to leave as this. We been in this world for a long time, we prevented many threats that could destroy the _other world_ our real one; yet we were abandoned here"

"No worries; this is probably our heaven. We do not have to worry, as we are the Saviors of this world; we created our own paradise"

"I am guilty, I manipulated the Toads into an intelligent race. I was part of the crew who created the portal. For what? We planned to invade, you knew it, is not paradise, we succeed but we lost at the same time"

"I don't think so"

"Why not?"

"As I said, I am here with you and that is what it matters"

"A beautiful moment in time…"

Behind some of the trees down the hill, Peach was listening to her old self talking with Mario, she was covered in tears as she didn't know how much she missed those moments. The Mario she created was like the old one but not the same. She understood that what she had would never come back and that her experiment even if it flourished was a failure at the end.

She realized that it was her desired to bring her champion and her lover back that made the Mario Maker a reality; but her abilities couldn't bring a soul to a body that was destroyed. She started to wonder why Mario and Luigi weren't acting the same? even if their memories were completely restored. She thought about if she brought the original souls, that if the "recycling" process damaged them.

The idea of dying over and over could destroy the essence of someone; but, also bringing back so many times to live and die could be a traumatic experience. She started to think about the concepts of Buddhism about the Dhamma Wheel and how it affected anyone. She comprehended that her abilities were related to that, to the death and life itself. She holds power over life and death, Mario over dimensions and fire and Luigi could talk control time and talk to the dead's.

She knew they were the Gods themselves of that land, but she couldn't understood the exact range of the Negative Force and why some people were bestowed with the abilities. She tried to know if it was genetic or in another case there was an entity that could give it to the users. She started to wonder if those graced by the Negative Force to display the full potential, where the chosen ones to replace the Master Core?

She tried to think carefully while observing her younger self, if the tournament was really the plan the Core had? And if he couldn't predict the end-game? There, the answer came to her head. It wasn't a mistake from the Core, it was a cry for help to awake the next potential host. Bowser didn't absorb the Core, the Core let himself be absorbed by Bowser in order to push the hosts to the limit. She started to panic, because she saw Jr. Luigi, Mario and herself as the truly potential hosts of the Core and the only ones who could restore the universe as well the multiverse from a total collapse.

"Mario" She said "Forgive me; younger self; enjoy this last moment, because you don't know when is going to end, but I do. There are no regrets, no regrets…"

"Daisy, my friend, I hope you are OK…"

She faded into the light; the younger version of Mario and Peach stood for a moment of their spot, they didn't know what that light came from, but they saw it disappear into the moon.


	27. Chapter 27: Angel with a Shotgun

**Chapter 27**

 **Angel with a Shotgun**

"Your friends survived, that is amazing Jr." Said the Core while watching Mario, Luigi and Peach returning from the different timelines.

"I am watching; but, may I talk to my father one more time?"

"No, there is no Bowser anymore, just alpha and omega, beginning and end, life and death; I am the embodiment of everything"

"If you are, then you could had killed us whenever you could; my father soul is still inside the shell. Is not a ghost, is his essence and you were corrupted by it"

"I couldn't commit the ultimate sin with my mere hands, God can't kill his own creations but I can let my emissaries do the job"

"Then, why we didn't die before?"

"Because one of you will be my executioner, the truly one who will replace my current host and bring balance to the universe"

"Why my father?"

"He made a mistake" Jr. was looking to the skeletal remains gaining flesh one more time and turning into Bowser, he wanted to give him a hug but he knew it could be a problem to his safety.

"Jr. I am not perfect, I didn't foresee the invasion and didn't see Ganon, Wario and your father leading it. Your hands aren't free of blood, you are aware of that"

"I know, Samus, I consumed her, I never ate a living being before, the power she had, her blood, her taste… was amazing"

"That power is innate in you, you know that each of you represent an aspect of the universal balance" Said the Core. "Mario represents control over the dimensions, Luigi control over time, Peach represents life and you represent death"

"So we are your avatars?"

"Yes and no. You are mostly extensions of my own existence. No very different from the Master Hand, Crazy Hand and Tabuu. It doesn't matter that you were born and are flesh, it doesn't matter the universe you came from, what it matters is this moment"

A moment of silence "Why did you let my father absorb you?"

"You can't avoid the inevitable Jr. the experiences lived on the subspace shaped everyone in order to prepare to receive me"

"So the experience, you decided to put in peril the fabric of time and space and the lives of thousands of trillions of beings?"

"Life and death are together, linked in one. Is through the danger that the souls grow but your father was a mere peon, nothing else. You are the one with an amazing power, your skills are just beautiful compared to his"

Bowser's body was completely restored, as time stop flowing for a long moment and the Final Destination became what it was intended to represent, the tangent where there is nothing.

"You were in control all the time?"

"Yes, I was"

"I can't believe it… why?"

"It had to be done to get my new host. You need to understand that you 4 were the key to restore the multiverse, if the soul of my host, the individual I will be bounded doesn't mature, then there would be nothing"

"Can I bond with you?"

"I do not know"

"Why not?"

"Your friends need to come here so I will know, but you know what Jr. I actually made a mistake"

"God is not perfect then?"

"No, I am far away from being perfect. I am an essence of the will of the living, and they aren't. I never imagined your father had a strong will, so powerful that it consumed me. This is the first time in almost 10 years that I can speak, that I let the flesh of my host, even if is a temporal one to regain the looks of what it was. This should be the true essence of God, the ability to be here and not to be"

"Do you and host bond or is you who take control?"

"We usually become one, but there had been cases in which as know my essence gets corrupted and it fades only to become the deepest desires of the host"

"That is insane, so it means you are just a mere corrupted version of my father?"

"Correct, I am a mere shadow of who I was"

"But, you essentially controlled the events…"

"Only the last couple of months to lead everyone here, Junior you understand if I cease to exist, all the multiple realities will too, there will be no tomorrow, time will fade into oblivion and there will be nothing"

"So, this is the moment of truth?"

"Yes"

"What will happen next?"

"You must fight and see who will become the new host before time ends. After this point, there is no yesterday or tomorrow, only what it comes"

"May I ask you one question, in theory you know what my father feel about me, did he was proud of me?"

"Yes, he was; you were his biggest accomplishment, the problem he had because of your grandmother, she always scolded him as he became the heir of the Koopas when your grandfather died"

A moment of silence.

"Core, thank you. You give me a moment that I always wanted, even if you aren't him, not his essence, those words coming from his mouth really mean a lot to put this sorrow to an end"

"I do have a good side too, but there is nothing I can do to redo the mistake when your father absorbed me, think this Junior, he defied God's will and became God himself"

"Still, he paid the ultimate price"

"Dead is not the ultimate price Junior"

"Greed is. He wanted your power, he wanted to conquer the universe, but he was too inept, he let himself be thrown by his own desires and own mortality"

"He feared death isn't?"

"Everyone does, I do too"

"Your friends are about to arrive Junior, I know you are wondering why I didn't send you to another piece of time? The answer is simple, you wanted to see me before the time ends"


	28. Chapter 28: The Final Countdown

**Chapter 28**

 **The Final Countdown**

It was the final event horizon, and there was nothing else they could do; Bowser Jr. was still sitting watching everything to fade into oblivion. There he saw the moment he devoured Samus, where he killed one of the many Zelda's that ruled over the multiple Hyrules. He was wondering if as the different timelines of Hyrule, there was one in which all of them had a happy ending? He was tearing in sadness because of all the evil they caused.

The Core faded away from Jr. sight, as Mario and the gang arrived from the different points in time, they asked him if he was OK as they didn't imagine he was going to be there first; he replied with a small lie that he was sent on a moment he was happy but didn't offered too much details. He was just happy to be able to sit and speak to the mirage of who is father was. The Final Destination started to change, it became the verge where all realities started to converse into one point.

"Guys, this is the moment where everything ends and a new beginning starts, it was a mere experiment caused by God to see if we were worthy of his benevolence to continue the universe"

"What are you saying Jr.?" Mario asked.

"The Core was testing us, we are his avatars to host his next incarnation. He wasn't dying, he just manipulated everything and when my father by accident absorbed him, he lost control and placed the universe on the current state"

"Oh my!" Said Peach.

"What it comes next, will be the last fight we ever have. Will be the last moment in time. Thank you guys"

As he finished his words, the world around them changed, from below the platform a giant hand appeared, it wasn't any of the previous hands, it was ethereal. Then another one, and then the rest of the body came. It was the Master Giant, one of the many forms of the Core, one of the forms he took in one of the universes and people called him a Nephilim, a Titan and so many other names.

The existence of the Core transcended centuries and eons, it was beyond time itself where he, they, came to existence. It was a moment where there was nothing, and nothing was everything, him, she, they, became bored, as it was the only conscious living in the void and the void was the existential reason of an elegy of emptiness.

Then time appeared, men, living beings, evolution transcended the Prime Earth, it went beyond, some worlds had magic, some world had technology, some worlds were hybrids, some worlds had nothing and it was the moment that the subspace was created, a realm for the Core to live and govern.

He made a mistake because his creations the R.O.B.S. betrayed him and he accepted it, he didn't mind as he knew within their disloyalty he could set in motion to find the missing links of his next avatar so he planned, he conceived the power to four different beings outside his inner circle. One would have power over life, one over death, one over time and one over space.

Each of his avatars would be mortal, but they would be in the need to grow and develop their skills. They would be in the need to transcend life and death; and then he could find a way to preserve his creation, the place called the multiverse. At the end of the tournament, his essence got corrupted because he wasn't expecting that someone would defy his existence, he never imagined someone would defy God's will. The heart of Bowser was corrupted with hate and anger, that anger was supreme that fogged his vision over 10 years, after regaining what he was, he decided to continue with his plan and cause death and desolation because he was bored.

The Giant started to attack with electric orbs around the platform, there was no way to escape. Just to avoid the attacks, he was colossal, everything that he threw was the size of a comet and all of them were trying to contain him but to no avail. The Princess jumped out of the stage and focused her energy into creating Pysch Bombs. She started throwing them in succession, almost as a rapid fire and noticed that when they hit him he started to fade.

"Everyone don't avoid!" She screamed "Physical attacks won't hurt him, use your inner skills weaken him"

Mario went down and started to focus within his inner fire, he could feel the energy expanding outside his mortal shell. It was Final Smash, the move that went beyond the Ultra Flame and his ability to hide in the subcon space.

"Finale" he shouted. His entire body started to emit a bright light; Peach, Luigi and Jr. knew he was going _nova_ he was going to threw everything to the Giant and anything on the surroundings was going to be obliviated. They started to move as far as they could, and generated protective shields around them, then the explosion came.

As far they traveled they noticed how imposing the Giant, but also they noticed that Mario was similar to a star that expelled the inner mass, they all noticed in different directions how much power Mario had within him. They were wondering if the abilities were related to his soul or to his new body? Peach started to think if the template had even more power than the one they were watching? It was too many questions and no answers. No answers for anything, and the only being who could give some proper explanation. The explosion was beautiful, it was the perfect scenario of death and re-birth, and then came silence.

All of them went back to the starting point, they found Mario sitting in the platform and in the middle of the ruins of the platform; there was Bowser laying on the floor unconscious, there was no signs of the Core inside him; but in a matter of a quarter of a second, Bowser started to growl in agony, it was a scream filled with pain and sorrow.


	29. Chapter 29: Epilogue

**Epilogue**

 **Goodbye My Lover / Let the Sunshine In**

Bowser Jr. was in tears, there he saw the remains of his father turn into a skeletal version and holding the Master Core where his heart should be. The Core didn't have too much time left, probably a few more minutes before finally succumbing to his own existence of not finding a proper host. There was Bowser no more; no signs of the mighty king and there was just a set of bones who barely showed whom he was.

A loud roar was thrown out from the shell, the Master Core reached the final stages of his corruption and the benevolent being was gone, there was just a beast waiting to devour time itself. Everything around the End Stage started to fade into oblivion. Peach recognized some of the elements, she knew the Swarm was approaching to reclaim their master back to the shadows.

She couldn't let herself let the universe sink into the darkness. The dimension they were sitting in started to transform into the Master Fortress. All of them were going to be devoured if they didn't found a way to escape. She was getting concerned about being killed inside the beast. They had no other way as the only way to escape and destroy the four cores around the Master Fortress.

There was silence; there was darkness, they couldn't hear the shadows of the Swarm guarding the cores. Mario was wondering what was wrong? There should be a lot noise, pain and suffering, but he realized there was none. As they venture a little bit further they found the first one; Luigi threw a fireball but as soon his ball hit the first core he was pulled out of the Fortress by a small group of Swarm's, and eventually pulled out of time itself.

Mario looked in fear as he never imagined there could be a destiny worse than death. Being pulled out of existence, but there was no time to think or grief, there was just little time left to save what was behind in the universe. They started to run from the remaining Swarns until they lost them.

They were feeling they were inside a temporal paradox where time itself was crunching and they were running out. There were no more memories, no more tomorrow, everything was slowly dying. The party reached to a small chamber located in the esophagus where the second core was resting; Bowser Jr. was feeling incredible nostalgic and he had a small memory in which he remembered how cruel he was to his own people to the Tribe of the Turtle.

\- I am sorry Mario; for what we did. We were just misleading by my father or the Core. Please go to the next room as soon as I attack the next core. As soon he said his goodbyes he transformed into Shadow Mario and jumped to the core who was in the middle of the chamber.

Mario felt that the chamber was getting darker as soon Jr. approached to the core, he transformed into a shadow, in which Mario never saw before; he saw Jr. become ethereal and slowly devouring the core. A few seconds later in which him and Peach reached the safe zone, they heard an explosion coming from the room that was behind. None of them decided to go back to see if Jr. was even OK; they just walked to the next room.

It seemed time stopped, as if they were given a last moment in order to lure them to the bottom of the fortress. Peach was happy to spend some time with the only person she loved, she was regretting everything, she wanted a second chance in life to make everything OK but she knew that wish would come with a price.

She wanted to apologize to Mario for ruining the Plumber's Project and the invasion plan Earth had. It seemed to late, as they had new lives and time ran on a different dilation on that dimension where the Mushroom Kingdom was located. As they walked past the esophagus, they realized that the beast was breathing, it was a leaving being after all, or at least had the functions to pretend and mimic biological behavior.

Peach was wondering if the Swarm was a living entity? A biological being who survived millennials by devouring other life forms? It was too much too wonder but she realized that the composition of the Swarm was not one creature per se but as the name implied it was the amalgamation of different beings who were assimilated into the gestalt.

They kept walking and realized as much they were further they were handling into an area that was away from time and space. They couldn't locate the last core to destroy it, which made Mario agitated towards what was happening. For a moment the place they were started to transform again; they found themselves on a familiar place, it was Bowser's Keep almost 35 years ago. They started to walk slowly, the illusion of the castle manifestation was empty of any Goombas or Koopas. Just lava.

\- Mario! Exclaimed Peach.

\- What's happening Princess?

\- Look at the bottom of the hall, I can't believe it!

Their surprise wasn't to see the core but also watching Bowser being chained to it; it was on the bridge above the lava. Peach went running to him, she then realized what it was holding the last core was Bowser's soul. She burst down in tears to realize that the soul of Bowser was doing one last act of kindness.

Their surprise was that Bowser himself was still conscious even in the afterlife. He looked at them and smile. A second later it got devoured by the Swarm, a scream of agony was heard and that was the moment when Peach and Mario realized that it wasn't an illusion, it was the essence of Bowser getting devoured by the nothingness.

The Swarm tried to push Mario and Peach outside the Fortress but both dodged the attack and Mario submitted the final blow to the last core by revealing the essence of the Master Core. The essence itself was nothing than a mere ball of energy, it was as heavy as the yellow sun.

It didn't take too much to regenerate, the Swarm absorbed the Core into itself, the remaining of time started to crumble. There was no way to reverse the destruction of the universe, and that was the moment where Peach realized it was her time to do it right and fix the mistakes and casualties she caused.

The Swarm transformed the Core into the Master Giant and almost out of nowhere he charged against the couple. Peach hugged Mario one more time and gave him a kiss on the lips. Mario didn't know what was happening but he felt that it was her way to say goodbye, she pushed him to as far from the giant.

Mario was in tears, as Peach was approaching the Core she started to dance. Her Final Smash was activated, it was just gorgeous as a music appeared out of nowhere and she became covered in petals. He knew by the time the music would end she was going to be gone and he couldn't do anything to stop her as final attack could drain his energy and kill him on the spot if she wanted to.

As she walked close to the giant, the Swarm started to fade out of existence. After all those decades without using it, her attack was as powerful as ever and she was as beautiful as when she was younger. Mario had memories that weren't with him for a long time, he saw Peach executing her final movement against one of the R.O.B.s.

The Swarm shadows started to disappear one by one as the giant approached the dancing princess. Little by little there was no more giant, there was no more Swarm, they got obliterated into the oblivion of not existing. The only thing left behind became the Core itself, it became pure and gentle; Mario knew what was going to happen and he couldn't even move to avoid the Princess committing the ultimate sacrifice, she was going to become the new host of the Core.

She started to walk slowly to the core who was laying on the floor, it was there helpless. Mario couldn't even move as the princess approached to the Core slowly. He was there helplessly he knew his paralysis was an effect of Peach Blossom, he only looked while the princess bonded with the essence of the universe.

He realized how similar Peach ultimate move was similar to his own brother Negative Zone, one side was the harbinger of destruction and the other the bringer of creation. He realized that his brother and the women whom he loved were souls destined to be together but their existences cursed by never acknowledging their own feeling to each other.

When the Core was finally absorbed Peach physical body ceased to exist, Mario was bursting in tears he couldn't believe it, she was gone; then a set of light particles started to form around him, it was almost as a hologram. He realized that it was Peach.

\- My dear Plumber, this is not the end for you and I we will have a destiny together. There is nothing much I can do. I promise everything will be better but not OK as the way it was, I am sorry for all the damage caused, it was my fault at a very extent but I can't blame myself as nobody was expecting Bowser to become the host by this unfortunate accident.

\- Princess, why?

\- Because you guys are my biggest treasure. I promise you will find me again. After she said those words she pushed Mario through a _wormhole_. Mario didn't know what happened but he was completely disconcerted about he had no chance to say goodbye.

The world was back to normal, time was flowing as always; there was the desolation that he and the others left behind. After a few moments he realized that Luigi was approaching, he was running with a big smile on his face.

\- We did it! Said it while giving a hug to his brother.

Mario was wondering how the Kingdom was going to come back from the ashes, he even ignored Luigi. He was wondering how they were going to move forward now that the Princess was gone, it seemed to be that Luigi didn't realize that the Princess didn't returned.

\- Peach is gone Luigi, she became one with the Core, she is the reason we are here and time is flowing back to normal. Do you remember what happened when you hit the first core?

\- Not so much, I think I passed out.

\- You were deleted or erased from existence. I wonder if Jr. came back also?

\- Probably; he is his father's child. Impossible to kill.

\- I really hope so. Smiled Mario to his brother.

A couple of months later the Kingdom was being restored to the former glory; Mario went back to the sewers and try to find the entrance of the laboratory to finally put an end to the Mario Maker project. After a few moments of trying to locate the entrance he finally found it in between the ruble. He thought about open a door to the subspace in order to prevent a further collapse. After he jumped inside he saw the ruins of what it was; it was as they left it. What it got his attention it was that some of the clones of him and Luigi were destroyed as well the genetic templates.

He was feeling melancholic to know he gained a second or 34th chance in life; he walked slowly to the Mario Maker chambers; where Peach had the levels programmed in order to awake their potential. He found out on the control chamber the start button, to his surprise it was already on. Nobody besides him was inside the laboratory but he thought the Master Core could be the responsible.

He pushed the small red bottom and to his surprise on the screens that were located on the top of the panels, in big red letters appeared -Emergency Protocol Activated- He thought about hiding on the subspace in order to avoid any problems, his surprise appeared when a hologram of Princess Peach showed in the middle of the hologram room.

As quickly as he could walk, he ran to the other room. There it was the princess, as much as the last time they left the room; she was wearing her suit and her hair was perfectly combed. He was crying to see her, he wanted to touch her, but she was there smiling.

\- My dear Mario, if you are seeing me as this it means you are reading my last words. I wanted to apologize again for mistreating you for so many years and thank you very much for trying to save me, you indeed did, it will become my turn to do something right and not be taken to another castle.

I wanted to tell you so many things but the recording time of the Maker chamber it is limited; I wanted to tell you how many nights I spend wishing you recover your memories and thanks to the Stars you did. I was so happy to touch you one more time, even if you were on the chronological point when you died and I just aged. I do not know what destiny beholds but whatever happens I will be there with you. Is never a good bye my Plumber.

Mario was in tears because he wasn't expecting that, he was happy to hear the princess one more time, to his surprise when the message ended a side door opened. He became curious and walked through it; there it was a tiny room with one small clone pod. Curiosity was killing him because he wanted to know what it was.

To his surprise, there was the princess, at least a clone; it was her. He started to smile and tried to find the controls to open the pod; he couldn't believe it. It was almost as a second chance; as soon he found the tiny lever to open the pod, he went straight to her, he was happy to re-do things again and try to build a better tomorrow.

 **The End; Thank you for reading it.**


End file.
